‘Fiddlers’ Tunebooks’ - Vernacular Instrumental Manuscript Sources
1860-c1880: Paradigmatic of Folk Music Tradition?

By:

Rebecca Emma Dellow

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy

The University of Sheffield
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Department of Music

June 2018

2

Abstract
Fiddlers’ Tunebooks are handwritten manuscript books preserving remnants of alargely amateur, monophonic, instrumental practice. These sources are vastly underexplored academically, reflecting a wider omission in scholarship of instrumental musicparticipated in by ‘ordinary’ people in nineteenth-century England. The tunebooks
generate interest amongst current folk music enthusiasts, and as such can be subject
to a “burden of expectation”,1 in the belief that they represent folk music tradition. Yetboth the concepts of tradition and folk music are problematic. By considering folk
music from both an inherited perspective and a modern scholarly interpretation, thisthesis examines the place of the tunebooks in notions of English folk music tradition.
A historical musicological methodology is applied to three post-1850 case-study
manuscripts drawing specifically on source studies, archival research and quantitative
analysis. The study explores compilers’ demographic traits and examines content,
establishing the existence of a heterogeneous repertoire copied from contemporary
textual sources directly into the tunebooks. This raises important questions regarding
the role played by publishers and the concept of continuous survival in notions of
tradition. A significant finding reveals the interaction between aural and literate
practices, having important implications in the inward and outward transmission andin wider historical application. The function of both the manuscripts and the musicalpractice is explored and the compilers’ acquisition of skill and sources is examined. This
results in the ‘re-discovery’ of Musical Circulating Libraries, and identifies a binaryroute to skill acquisition, largely defined by environment.
Acknowledging the contention surrounding terms such as folk, popular and tradition,and the subtle interaction of aurality and literacy, this study concludes that themanuscripts contribute to wider historical discourse and do have a place in notions offolk music tradition, moreover that their textual nature provides a unique perspectivefrom which to observe the process.

1

Steve Roud, Folk Song in England, (London: Faber & Faber, 2017), p. 9.

3

Contents

Abstract ................................................................................................................... 3Contents .................................................................................................................. 4
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 8
A Note on Referencing, Figures and Copyright .......................................................... 8
Figures ................................................................................................................... 10
Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 16
Chapter 1- Introductions ........................................................................................ 17Part 1 - Introduction to the Field of Study and Thesis ......................................... 17
Vernacular Instrumental Music and Tune Manuscripts .................................. 19
Existing Studies and the Wider Literature ....................................................... 23
Thorny Traditions and Slippery Definitions ..................................................... 34
Why This Research Matters ............................................................................. 52
Research Questions.......................................................................................... 54
Approaching the Archive.................................................................................. 54
Scope and Sources ........................................................................................... 59
Structure of Thesis ........................................................................................... 63
Conclusion to Part 1 ............................................................................................. 66
Part 2 – Introduction to the Case-Study Manuscripts ......................................... 66
Hampton MS c1870-1880s............................................................................... 66
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ................................................................................. 70
Bennett MS 1860 ............................................................................................. 73
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 76
Chapter 2- ‘Who Were the Folk? The Demography of the Manuscript Compilers’ .... 77
Biographical Examination of Case Studies. .......................................................... 78
Hampton MS c1870-1880s - Thomas Hampton 1844-1896. ........................... 79
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ................................................................................. 85
Bennett MS 1860 ............................................................................................. 95
Broader Indications ............................................................................................ 102
Results from the Wider Sample ..................................................................... 105
Analysis of Key Characteristics ........................................................................... 107
4

Age and Marital Status ................................................................................... 107
Gender............................................................................................................ 109
Environment ................................................................................................... 111
Occupation and class...................................................................................... 112
Participants in Folk Music Tradition? ................................................................. 116
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 117
Chapter 3- Repertoire ‘…how wide and deep their roots’ ..................................... 119
Methodology – a note on Boundaries and Classification .................................. 119‘Depth’ ............................................................................................................ 121‘Width’ ............................................................................................................ 126
Repertoire in the Manuscripts ........................................................................... 128
Hampton MS c1870........................................................................................ 128
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ............................................................................... 135
Bennett MS 1860............................................................................................ 145
Overall ............................................................................................................ 156
A Heterogeneous Repertoire ............................................................................. 157
Causes of a Heterogeneous Repertoire ......................................................... 160
Specific Genres of Note within the Repertoire .............................................. 165
Historic Tunes in Contemporary Structures ................................................... 168
Folk Music Tradition and a Heterogeneous Repertoire? ................................... 170
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 173
Chapter 4 – Inward Transmission and Source Provenance .................................... 175
Inward Transmission Methods ........................................................................... 175
Comparative Visual Evidence ......................................................................... 177
Survey Evidence ............................................................................................. 182
Wider Literature ............................................................................................. 183
The Discovery of ‘Direct’ Sources................................................................... 186
Results ............................................................................................................ 191
Sources ............................................................................................................... 191‘Cheap Works’ ................................................................................................ 191
The Legality of Copying Music........................................................................ 196
Favouring Copying Over Using Purchased Print ............................................ 206
Print Survival and Lack of Interest ................................................................. 207
5

Print versus Manuscript Survival ................................................................... 208
Using the Sources to Define an Autonomous Practice .................................. 209
Survival, Revival and Selection in Folk Music Tradition ..................................... 211
The Role of Orality/Aurality ........................................................................... 215
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 221
Chapter 5 – Outward Transmission ....................................................................... 223
Sacred Repertoire .............................................................................................. 224
Secular Repertoire ............................................................................................. 226
Utilitarian ....................................................................................................... 227
Aesthetic ........................................................................................................ 251
Motivation to play music ................................................................................... 258
Outward Transmission in Notions of Folk Music Tradition ............................... 259
Function of the Musicians .............................................................................. 259
Function of the Manuscripts .......................................................................... 260
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 263
Chapter 6 –Acquiring Resources and Skill.............................................................. 265
Part 1 - Acquiring Resources .............................................................................. 265
Poverty or Prosperity? ................................................................................... 265
Rural Accessibility .......................................................................................... 267
Accessing the Printed Copy ............................................................................ 270
Borrowed not Bought .................................................................................... 275
Musical Circulating Libraries .......................................................................... 279
Part 1 - Conclusion ............................................................................................. 286
Part 2 – Acquiring Skill ....................................................................................... 286
Perceived Literacy Levels ............................................................................... 287
Musical Literacy in Relation to General Literacy ........................................... 289
Musical Literacy and Ability in the Case-Studies ............................................... 291
Hampton ........................................................................................................ 291
Till/Clutterbuck .............................................................................................. 293
Bennett........................................................................................................... 294
Routes of Literacy and Technical Acquisition In the Case-Studies .................... 294
School ............................................................................................................. 295
Home .............................................................................................................. 298
6

Religious Institutions ...................................................................................... 299
Autodidactic ................................................................................................... 309
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 313
Chapter 7 – Conclusions ....................................................................................... 315
Responding to the Research Questions ............................................................. 315
Paradigmatic of Folk Music Tradition?............................................................... 318
Further Conclusions ........................................................................................... 322
Original Contribution to Knowledge .................................................................. 323
Limitations and Areas for Future Study ............................................................. 324
Epilogue .............................................................................................................. 328
Appendix A - A Facsimile Resource ....................................................................... 330
Hampton MS c1870-1880 .................................................................................. 330
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866 ................................................................................... 345
Bennett MS 1860................................................................................................ 360
Appendix B – Summary of Findings ...................................................................... 381
Appendix C – Master List ..................................................................................... 390
Appendix D – Examples of Transmission Survey ................................................... 391
Appendix E – Transcription of Chappell’s Cheap Works ........................................ 397
Appendix F – Transcription of Newspaper Reports from Chapter 5 ....................... 398
Appendix G – Transcription of Newspaper Reports from Chapter 6 ...................... 402
Appendix H – Poverty, Prosperity and Earnings – A Wider Perspective ................. 403
Appendix I – Travel – A Wider Perspective ........................................................... 410
Appendix J – Illiteracy – A Wider Perspective ....................................................... 413
Appendix K – Biographies of Key Composers ........................................................ 416
Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 419

7

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Fay Hield from the University of Sheffield, forher support, encouragement and belief in me during the research and preparation ofthis thesis. I would also like to thank Johnny Adams, Dr David Atkinson and the
Editorial Board of the Folk Music Journal, Dr Julia Bishop, Audrey Bottomley,
Genevieve Carter, John Davis, Dr Vic Gammon, Gloria (Grc08) via Ancestry.co.uk forpermission to use the quotation from Dorothy Bennett’s oral narrative, David
Hampton, Rob Harbron, Pip Heath-Coleman, Pete Hendy, Dr Simon Keegan-Phipps, The
Lebhurst Library, Dr Dave Land, Alice Little, Charles Menteith, Chris Partington, Mervyn
Slatter and Rod Stradling. Finally, I am indebted to Del and my children Eva, Milly andBea for their patience and understanding during times of abandonment as aconsequence of this research.

A Note on Referencing, Figures and Copyright
References for the three case-study manuscripts are given in Chapter 1 andsubsequent references omitted due to frequency of use. Where a reference is made toa page number of a trade directory taken from the University of Leicester’s Special
Collections website, I have used their page reference which does not always tally withthe directory’s original page numbers,2 to aid searches for current researchers. Roud’s
term ‘burden of expectation’ is frequently referred to throughout the thesis. Following
a full reference in the abstract and the initial quotation of the term in the main body ofthe thesis, subsequent references are referred to in single quotation marks but fullacknowledgment of the term is hereby given to Steve Roud. With thanks to Peter Barrfrom the University of Sheffield Library for his help and advice regarding referencing.3

2

Library, 'Special Collections Online Historical Directories', University of Leicester (No date)<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4> [accessed 3 February2017].
3
Other sources consulted regarding referencing include: Library Services, 'Modern Humanities Research
Association (Mhra)', University of Birmingham Intranet (2017)<https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/referencing/icite/referencing/mhra/index.aspx> [accessed 4 April 2017]; The University Library, 'Information and Digital Literacy: Information
Skills Resource', The University of Sheffield (2016) <https://librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/shefonly/referencing/music_mhra.html> [accessed 5 April 2017]; Information Services Cardiff University,8Unless specified otherwise, photographic images are digital photographs taken by
myself. Images used from the Bennett manuscript were very kindly emailed to me by
Genevieve Carter, curator at the Huronia Museum, and are reproduced by kindpermission of the Huronia Museum, Ontario, Canada. Images taken by myself of the
Till/Clutterbuck manuscript at Gloucestershire Archives are used by kind permission of
Paul Evans, Collections Management Archivist (www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives).
Subsequent references to images from the case-study manuscripts are not cited
individually.
Additional images used throughout the thesis have also been reproduced by kindpermission of the following institutions and acknowledgment and thanks given
herewith:
Brigham Young University Library, Bristol Archives, The British Library, The British
Newspaper Archive (British Library Board), Folkopedia, Gloucestershire Archives,
Halsway Manor Library (Halsway Manor Centre for the Folk Arts),
Herefordshirehistory.org.uk (Herefordshire Council), Rachel Hunt and The National
Trust, The Library of Birmingham, Music Library: Song Sheet Collection, The National
Archives, The National Library of Scotland, The Philadelphia Rare Books andManuscript Company, Reg Hall, Royal Academy of Art, Mervyn Slatter, Somerset
Heritage Centre, South West Heritage Trust, University of Leicester Archives & Special
Collections, University of Reading, Special Collections, Washington State University
Libraries.
Where images have been reproduced but the source institution does not appear on
the above list, attempts to obtain permission have been sought. Those listed below
indicate where no response has been received from my requests: David James &Partners. If any party believes they have a claim to copyright which I have omitted tocredit, please inform me so I can acknowledge accordingly.

'Mhra Referencing Tutorial', University of Gloucestershire (2008)<http://ist.glos.ac.uk/referencing/mhra/page13.html> [accessed 5 April 2017].

9

Figures
Figure 1: The final selection of case-study manuscripts. ................................................ 61
Figure 2: Map showing the locations of the selected case-study manuscripts. (Source:
Google maps). ................................................................................................................. 61
Figure 3: Stitching on the inside cover turn-ins of Hampton MS. .................................. 67
Figure 4 : Front cover of Hampton MS. .......................................................................... 68
Figure 5 : Ham.1.1. .......................................................................................................... 68
Figure 6 : Ham.3.1, bar 2. ................................................................................................ 69
Figure 7 : Ham.5.1, bars 6-7. ........................................................................................... 69
Figure 8 : Front and back cover of Till/Clutterbuck MS. ................................................. 71
Figure 9 : The remains of the marbled paper covering on Till/Clutterbuck MS. ............ 71
Figure 10 : The gatherings of Till/Clutterbuck MS. ......................................................... 72
Figure 11 : Non-uniform stave endings in Till/Clutterbuck MS. ..................................... 72
Figure 12 : Front and back Cover of Bennett MS. ........................................................... 73
Figure 13 : Gatherings of Bennett MS............................................................................. 74
Figure 14 : Ben.47.1, showing the internal stitching. ..................................................... 75
Figure 15 : Ben.44.2, demonstrating the transcription style. ......................................... 75
Figure 16 : Pages 4 and 16 of Hampton MS. ................................................................... 81
Figure 17 : The transcription style of Ham.11.3. ............................................................ 83
Figure 18 : Walter Soobroy's name written on printed music and matching handwritingin Ham.1.1 and Ham.2.2. ................................................................................................ 84
Figure 19 : Extracts from the front cover of Hampton MS and Ham.1.1. ...................... 84
Figure 20 : Inside front cover of Till/Clutterbuck MS...................................................... 87
Figure 21 : Inside back co ver of Till/Clutterbuck MS. .................................................... 87
Figure 22 : Baptism Record of George Clutterbuck. Source: Gloucestershire Archives(Gdr/V1/410). .................................................................................................................. 88
Figure 23 : Baptism record of Kate Till. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (P315). ........ 90
Figure 24 : Till family baptisms 1877. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (P315). ........... 90
Figure 25 : The inscription on the endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS. .............................. 91
Figure 26 : 1911 England census returns. Source: The National Archives...................... 92
Figure 27 : The inscription on the endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS. .............................. 92
Figure 28 : The inscription on the frontispiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS and list of George
and Emma Clutterbuck/Till's children. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (D4190\2\3). 92
Figure 29 : The Crown Inn, Stone, now a private house. Source:www.davidjames.org.uk. ................................................................................................ 93
Figure 30 : Two photographs from Kate Clutterbuck's 1886 photograph album. Source:
Gloucestershire Archives (D4190\2\4). .......................................................................... 94
Figure 31 : A family tree depicting key Till/Clutterbuck family members. ..................... 94
Figure 32 : Difference in treble clefs drawn by 1st and 2nd scribes in Bennett MS. ........ 95
Figure 33 : Ben.67.1 depicting the 'Doyatonic' scale. ..................................................... 96
Figure 34 : George Wilkins Bennett. Source: Huronia Museum, Ontario, Canada......... 96
10

Figure 35 : Chedzoy tithe map (1836). Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/3/2/1).
......................................................................................................................................... 97
Figure 36 : Lease between Hales and Bennett. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(DD/BR/ely/13/1/116). ................................................................................................... 98
Figure 37 : Chedzoy Parish Church vestry book. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(D/P/chedz/9/1/1). ......................................................................................................... 99
Figure 38 : ‘Hooks Favourite’ and ‘Maryes’, Bennett MS. .............................................. 99
Figure 39 : Ben.50.1 showing the bell ringing sequence. ............................................. 101
Figure 40 : The mode age range of the wider sample. ................................................. 105
Figure 41 : Occupational classifications of the wider sample. ...................................... 106
Figure 42 : Distribution of the occupational classification of the wider sample. ......... 106
Figure 43 : The dominance of the lower occupational classes shown as a pie-chart... 107
Figure 44 : 'Depth' categories. ...................................................................................... 124
Figure 45 : A flowchart to show the 'Depth' categories. ............................................. 125
Figure 46 : 'Width' categories. ...................................................................................... 127
Figure 47 : The 'Depth' of tunes in Hampton MS.......................................................... 128
Figure 48 : The 'Width' of tunes in Hampton MS.......................................................... 129
Figure 49 : The 'Depth' of tunes in Till/Clutterbuck MS. ............................................... 136
Figure 50 : The ‘Width’ of tunes in Till/Clutterbuck MS. .............................................. 136
Figure 51 : ‘The Great Eastern Polka’. Source: www.musicalbouquet.co.uk. .............. 141
Figure 52 : ‘The Hebe Waltz’. Source: www.birmingham.gov.uk. ................................ 143
Figure 53 : The 'Depth' of tunes in Bennett MS. ........................................................... 145
Figure 54 : The 'Width of tunes in Bennett MS. ............................................................ 145
Figure 55 : Chapbook Five Popular Songs. Source: www.prbm.com. ........................... 146
Figure 56: ‘Will Watch, The Bold Smuggler’. Source: http://digital.nls.uk. .................. 148
Figure 57 : Advertisement for ‘King Pippin Polka’. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 151
Figure 58: ‘King Pippin’ in a concert programme. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 152
Figure 59 : ‘Mother I've Come Home to Die’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (h.2345:
3494). ............................................................................................................................ 153
Figure 60 : ‘Isle of Beauty’ in the Bennett and Winter MSS. Photo: G. Carter / R Dellow.
Source: Huronia Museum / Halsway Manor Library, © Halsway Manor Society Ltd
2001............................................................................................................................... 154
Figure 61 : ‘Song of The Perfect Cure’. Source: https://vads.ac.uk. The University ofReading, Special Collections. ......................................................................................... 155
Figure 62 : ‘Britannia The Pride of the Ocean’. Source: Robert Cushman Butler
Collection of Theatrical Illustrations Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections;
http://content.libraries.wsu.edu. ................................................................................. 156
Figure 63 : The total 'Depth' of tunes from the case-study MSS. ................................. 156
Figure 64 : The total tune 'Width' distribution across the case-study MSS.................. 156
Figure 65 : Influence of Minstrel Troupes in the case-study MSS. ............................... 163
11

Figure 66 : ‘Royal Irish Quadrilles’. Source: http://collections.vam.ac.uk.................... 169
Figure 67 : Ham.4.4. ...................................................................................................... 176
Figure 68 : Til.10.1 and Til.44.2. .................................................................................... 177
Figure 69 : Ham.14.2. .................................................................................................... 178
Figure 70 : Ham.1.2. ...................................................................................................... 179
Figure 71 : Mozart String Quartet in D Major K575. Source:
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts. .................................................................................... 180
Figure 72 : ’The Triumph’ shown in Hampton MS (Ham.6.3), Westrop’s 120 Country
Dances and Boosey’s 100 Reels etc. ............................................................................. 187
Figure 73 : Example of a ‘Publisher Source’. Photo: R Dellow. Sources: Til.35.1 andhttps://archive.org. ....................................................................................................... 188
Figure 74 : ‘Speed the Plough’, from Ben.35.1 and Winter MS. Photo: G Carter / R
Dellow. Source: Huronia Museum / Halsway Manor Library, copyright Halsway Manor
Society Ltd 2001. ........................................................................................................... 190
Figure 75 : Graph to show distribution of inward transmission. .................................. 191
Figure 76 : ‘Chappell's Cheap Works’, priced at 18d. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (f.161).
....................................................................................................................................... 193
Figure 77 : ‘Hopwood & Crew's 100 Country Dances for the Violin’, Priced at 1s. Photo:
R Dellow. Source: BL (e.269.(3)).................................................................................... 194
Figure 78 : Sheard’s ‘Musical Bouquet’ Publication, selling for one shilling. Photo: R
Dellow. Source: BL (f.106. (1)). ..................................................................................... 195
Figure 79 : The ‘Musical Gem’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (b.94). ............................ 196
Figure 80 : Evidence of the exclusivity deal between D'Albert and Chappell. Photo: R
Dellow. Source: BL (e.251.a). ........................................................................................ 197
Figure 81 : ‘The Rigoletto Waltz’. Photos: R Dellow. Source: BL (e.73.a) and Ham.9.3.
....................................................................................................................................... 198
Figure 82 : ‘Bristol Hornpipe’ and ‘Millicen’s Favorite [sic] Hornpipe’, Ham.15.1 andHam.15.2. ...................................................................................................................... 200
Figure 83 : ‘Millicen’s Favourite’ and ‘Bristol Hornpipe’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Kerr's
Merry Melodies Book 1. ................................................................................................ 200
Figure 84 : ‘Millicent’s Favourite’ and ‘Bristol’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Chappell’s 100
Hornpipes, BL (251.a). ................................................................................................... 200
Figure 85: Ham.2.2 and ‘Scotch Melody’ from Reinacle's Violinist's Portfolio. Photos: R
Dellow. Sources: Hampton MS and BL (h.217). ............................................................ 202
Figure 86 : Ham.14.2 and 'New Clog Hornpipe' from Blackman. Sources: Hampton MS
and http://folkopedia.efdss.org.................................................................................... 203
Figure 87 : Til.21.1. ........................................................................................................ 205
Figure 88 : Indication of awareness of copyright. Source: BL (h.2345.2001-2100)...... 206
Figure 89 : Certified Copy of Thomas Hampton's Marriage Certificate, 1870. ............. 216
Figure 90 : Original Marriage Certificate of George Till/Clutterbuck. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: Gloucestershire Archives (D4190\2\1). ........................................................... 216
Figure 91 : Copy of Marriage Certificate of George Bennett, 1859. ............................. 217
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Figure 92 : A close-up of George and Mary's 'signatures'. ........................................... 217
Figure 93 : Thomas Webster, ‘A Village Choir’, c1847. Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki. ......................................................................... 223
Figure 94 : Sketching by Webster for ‘The Village Choir’. Source:www.royalacademy.org.uk. .......................................................................................... 225
Figure 95 : Condy’s ‘The Court Dinner at Cotehele’ c1836. Photo: © National
Trust/John Hammond. Source: Rachel Hunt, National Trust House and Collections
Manager at Cotehele House. ........................................................................................ 227
Figure 96 : Kate Clutterbuck/Till’s 1884 Dance Programme. Photo: R Dellow. Source:
Gloucestershire Archives (D4190\3\1). ........................................................................ 228
Figure 97 : A close-up on the musicians in Condy's ‘The Court Dinner at Cotehele’.
Photo: © National Trust/John Hammond. Source: Rachel Hunt, National Trust House
and Collections Manager at Cotehele House................................................................ 229
Figure 98 : Ben.97.1....................................................................................................... 235
Figure 99 : Endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS. ................................................................ 235
Figure 100 : Til.9.1. ........................................................................................................ 236
Figure 101 : ‘Glocester Quick Step’ from Hughes MS. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Bristol
Archives (40358). .......................................................................................................... 237
Figure 102 : Til.10.1 and Ben.76.1. ................................................................................ 237
Figure 103 : Hornpipes with titles potentially linked to stage plays. ............................ 241
Figure 104 : The Navvie and Manchester Hornpipe. Photos: R Dellow. Sources:
Ham.16.1-16.2 and Kerr's (pp. 42-43)........................................................................... 244
Figure 105 : ‘Step Dancing in the Tap Room’, The Graphic, 22 October 1887. Source:
The Reg Hall Collection. ................................................................................................ 246
Figure 106 : ‘Selling Beer At Illegal Times’, from Hereford Journal, 1852. Source: © THE
BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ........................................................ 249
Figure 107 : The Red Lion, Victoria Street, Hereford. Source:www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk. ............................................................................... 250
Figure 108 : ‘The Remuneration of a Vocalist’, from Dublin Evening Mail, 1852. Source:© THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ............................................ 251
Figure 109 : Soobroy's String Band, from Ross Gazette, 1891. Source: © THE BRITISH
LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ..................................................................... 253
Figure 110 : ‘Penny Concerts’ from Leamington Spa Courier, 1865. Source: © THE
BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ........................................................ 255
Figure 111 : ‘Saturday Penny Concerts’ from Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge
Advertiser, 1860. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ... 255
Figure 112 : ‘Berkeley’ from Gloucester Citizen, 1891. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 257
Figure 113 : ‘Berkeley’ from Gloucester Journal, 1869. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 257
Figure 114 : Stitching in Hampton MS. ......................................................................... 267

13

Figure 115 : Advert for the Railway Music Company. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL(f.161). ........................................................................................................................... 270
Figure 116 : Extract from Slater, 1859 ‘Stroud’. Source: University of Leicester Archives& Special Collections. .................................................................................................... 271
Figure 117 : Advert of a Music Seller in Bridgwater from Sherborne Mercury, 1856.
Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .............................. 272
Figure 118 : Teacher and Music Seller in Commercial Street, Hereford Times, 7 January
1860. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ..................... 273
Figure 119 : Heins Music Shop, Hereford. Source: www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk.
....................................................................................................................................... 273
Figure 120 : Enlarged image of Heins Music Shop, Hereford. Source:www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk. ............................................................................... 274
Figure 121 : Til.42.1 and Til.43.1. .................................................................................. 278
Figure 122 : Til.57.1. ...................................................................................................... 278
Figure 123 : Extract from Taunton Courier, 1844. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 282
Figure 124 : Extract from Hereford Times, 1855. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 282
Figure 125 : A pencil transcription of 'Valse' found in Boosey’s 100 Dances, comparedto ‘Valse’, Ham.8.1. ....................................................................................................... 292
Figure 126 : Ham.9.2. .................................................................................................... 293
Figure 127 : Westrop's arrangement of ‘The Ratcatcher's Daughter’. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: Westrop, 120 Country Dances. ........................................................................ 293
Figure 128 : Til.58.1 where initial pencil notation can be seen to have been inked over.
....................................................................................................................................... 294
Figure 129 : Extract from 1835 Education Enquiry. Source: https://books.google.co.uk.
....................................................................................................................................... 297
Figure 130 : William Bennett's Lease. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(DD/BR/ely/13/1/116). ................................................................................................. 299
Figure 131 : Sacred material from Bennett MS, pp. 8-9. .............................................. 300
Figure 132 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden’s Accounts, 1863. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/4/1/2). ................................................................................... 301
Figure 133 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden's Accounts, 1805. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/4/1/1). ................................................................................... 301
Figure 134 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden's Accounts 1865. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/4/1/2). ................................................................................... 301
Figure 135 : Till/Clutterbuck MS secular tunes meet sacred, Til.56.1 – Til.57.1. ......... 302
Figure 136 : 'Queensborough PM’ from Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck MSS. ............... 303
Figure 137 : ‘All Saints’, Stone, Drawn c1870. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Gloucestershire
Archives (P315/MI/2). ................................................................................................... 304
Figure 138 : Extract from Blaisdon’s Churchwarden’s Accounts 1869. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: Gloucestershire Archives (P49/CW/2/1). ........................................................ 305
14

Figure 139 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden’s Accounts, 1822. Photo: R Dellow.
Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/4/1/1). ................................................................................... 309
Figure 140 : Extract from Saunders’s [sic] Newsletter, 1857. Source: © THE BRITISH
LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ..................................................................... 311
Figure 141 : Ham.1.1. .................................................................................................... 312
Figure 142 : Thomas Hampton's fiddle, tunebook and two fifes. ................................ 328
Figure 143 : Extract from A Working Man's Friend, 1850. Source: https://archive.org(Brigham Young University Library). ............................................................................. 405
Figure 144 : ‘Estimated Budget of Median Family’, Bowley. Source:
https://books.google.co.uk. .......................................................................................... 406
Figure 145 : Table based on the figures given by Bowley. Source: Burnett. ................ 406
Figure 146 : Bowley's ‘Real Time Wages’. Source: Burnett. ......................................... 407
Figure 147 : Excerpt from Cheltenham Chronicle, 1851. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 411
Figure 148 : Excerpt from Western Gazette, 1883. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. .................................................................................... 411

15

Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in the thesis:BL

The British Library

BNA

British Newspaper Archive

DIAMM

The Digital Image Archive of Medieval MusicEFDSSEnglish Folk Dance and Song Society

FMJ

Folk Music Journal

IFMCInternational Folk Music Council

IMSLPThe International Music Score Library Project

LOC

Library of Congress

MBThe Musical Bouquet

MCLMusical Circulating Library

MO&MTR

The Musical Opinion and Music Trade Review

MPA

The Musical Publishers’ Association

MS(S)Manuscript(s)MUSTRADMusical Traditions Internet Magazine

NLA

The National Library of Australia

N/TNo title

OCLC

Online Computer Library Centre

SHC

Somerset Heritage Centre

TTA

The Traditional Tune Archive

VMP

The Village Music ProjectVRC

The Volunteer Rifle Corps

VWML

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library16

Chapter 1- Introductions
Their music in those days was all in their own manuscript, copied in theevenings after work, and their music-books were home-bound. It wascustomary to inscribe a few jigs, reels, horn-pipes, and ballads in the same
book, by beginning it at the other end, the insertions being continued fromfront and back till sacred and secular met together in the middle, often withbizarre effect.4

Part 1 - Introduction to the Field of Study and Thesis
Thomas Hardy, writing in his 1896 preface to Under the Greenwood Tree describes
vernacular musicians and their manuscripts from approximately fifty years before, and
it is these manuscripts which comprise the focus of my study. One hundred years after
Hardy’s writing, not long after completing my first degree in music,5 my fiddle playing
grandfather presented me with a manuscript not unlike those described by Hardy. It
had belonged to my great-great grandfather, Thomas Hampton, who had been a fiddle
player in Hereford during the mid-late-nineteenth-century. Despite appreciating thetangible connection to my ancestor, after a cursory glance at his tunebook, I dismissed
its contents due to the lack of what I naïvely considered to be ‘proper ‘folk’ tunes’
which at the time fuelled my passion for fiddle playing.
No study or analysis was performed on the manuscript until nearly twenty years later
when I was studying for a Master’s degree in Musicology.6 During this time I worked on
Medieval manuscripts, evaluating them as contextual and musicological artefacts. I
also became aware of the thwarted historiography and problematic definitions ofEnglish folk music. Reviewing my ‘Fiddlers’ Tunebook’,7 I began to analyse my initial
reaction to it. It became clear that I was not unique in my misperceptions. I could see
how my preconceived notions played into the dialectic between popular music and4Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, (Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited,2004), p. xxiv.
5
The University of Nottingham, 1994.
6
The University of Bristol, 2013.
7
I refer to the tunebooks by this term as they are known in vernacular usage and also in more formal
situations, for example, in Stephen Banfield and Ian Russell, 'England (I)', Grove Music Online. Oxford
Music Online, <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com> [accessed April 4 2017].

17

folk music which has persisted in the scholarly discourse of vernacular song andinstrumental music since the terms first appeared and is still current today.8
When I cast aside my ancestor’s manuscript, it is conceivable that I was guilty of thesame prejudice said by some to be applied by the early folk song collectors,9 deriding
the more ephemeral melodic content, and making assumptions regarding definitions
based on its literate manuscript form. Intrigued by the unspoken judgements and lackof attention, I set out to unravel what these manuscripts tell us about mid-latenineteenth-century vernacular musical practice. I have since discovered, not only is themusical practice represented by these manuscripts a much-neglected area of English
music history; their presence represents a rare and important synchronic capture of
the process of tradition at work. This thesis is the result of my research into these
Fiddlers’ Tunebooks, and my examination to determine how the manuscripts fit innotions of folk music tradition.10
In Part 1 of this chapter I give a broad introduction to the field, acknowledging
problematic terms and review literature relating directly to manuscripts andinstrumental tunes. I then consider how and why the manuscripts are found in thecurrent field of folk music and identify characteristics which question their placement
here. Following a brief background on the development of definitions, current
scholarly discourse will be examined in depth and related to the outcome of myresearch. Six research questions are set out along with the structure of the thesis,
stating how each chapter relates to current dialogue in the field. Part 1 concludes bydetailing the overall methodology used to approach the research. Part 2 introduces theartefacts central to the research with a codicological examination of the three casestudy manuscripts.
The manuscripts under investigation are a rich yet neglected primary source giving
important evidence of nineteenth-century vernacular instrumental tunebook practice.
8

Discussed in depth below but see for example, Roud, Folk Song in England, pp. 15-35.
For example Harker blamed the early-twentieth-century folk song collectors of mediation: “their own
assumptions, attitudes, likes and dislikes may well have significantly determined what they looked for,accepted and rejected”. David Harker, Fakesong : The Manufacture of British 'Folksong' 1700 to thePresent Day, (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1985), p. xiii.
10
There is conjecture in using the term ‘folk’. However, later in the chapter I define my terms and accept
the existence of folk music as a genre. Therefore, I do not use quotation marks around the word
throughout the thesis.
918

They are important not only regarding the musicological aspects of the tunes but forproviding a starting point into the contextual investigation into the life of thecompilers, their audiences and their motives for playing and preserving. The ambiguityof definition suffered by the manuscripts has hindered their acceptance and value as
primary sources. This study aims to reduce this ambiguity of definition by exploring
their place in English folk music tradition.
In order to provide a clear starting point, the current position of the manuscripts inmusicological fields needs to be established. Visibility regarding setting parameters
and justifying source selection was an important part of approaching the manuscripts
objectively. Exposing the manuscripts, their creators and soundscape into wider
consciousness will raise awareness of the value they have in informing broad areas ofnineteenth-century musicology and understanding their position in both theircontemporary and today’s musical culture. Furthermore, it will reveal the importantrole this archive and its contents play not just in musical disciplines, but as primarysources in wider nineteenth-century historical studies.
Vernacular Instrumental Music and Tune Manuscripts
These historic tunebooks comprise chiefly pre-existing melodies, and are scatteredacross the country, held in libraries, museums, record offices and private ownership.
Many of them form part of a virtual archive and catalogue,11 maintained by The Village
Music Project (VMP),12 and Folkopedia,13 which lists approximately three hundred
surviving manuscripts. VMP is an online site, and although declaring their interest insocial dance music, they acknowledge the broad repertoire and genres found in suchmanuscripts, and recognise the problems faced by researchers today regarding

11

The archive is ‘virtual’ in the sense that the manuscripts are not collected together in one place andare held in an online catalogue.
12
The Village Music Project, 'Mss List', The Village Music Project (No date) <http://www.village-musicproject.org.uk/?page_id=84> [accessed 4 April 2017].
13
Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List', Folkopedia (No date)<http://folkopedia.efdss.org/index.php?title=Tune_Manuscripts_List&action=edit> [accessed 20 March2017]. The original Folkopedia page I accessed when doing the research in 2014-2016 was updated in
December 2016 and no longer displays correctly. The site administrator informed me via email that they
were aware of the issue but that following the upgrade the software is not supported by the EFDSS’(English Folk Dance and Song Society) web host’s server and the limited usage of the site and funding
did not warrant a wiki software upgrade from EFDSS. For this reason I am referencing the source page
which contains the relevant information. (Chris Partington, Email Correspondence (3 March 2017).)19

geographical disparity and access to the manuscripts in private collections.14 The
project started in 1998, supported by Salford University but is now independently andprivately funded, and aims to “fill in a gap in the ethno-musicological research
spectrum”.15 The ‘Tune Manuscripts’ page at Folkopedia, a site based on VMP’s
database, contains a more maintained and complete list of the extant manuscripts
unearthed so far.16 Prior to the existence of these two sites, the chaotic nature of thearchive made research fraught with difficulty for both scholars and enthusiasts alike.
The manuscript archive as a whole represents the repertoire of amateur musicians
who played for personal pleasure, dances and informal gatherings from the lateseventeenth to late-nineteenth centuries.17 It is important to recognise from theoutset that the manuscripts do not necessarily represent the compilers’ entire known
repertoire. Thus, analysis based on the content and discussed in this thesis is based on
the evidence found in the manuscripts and does not refer to the compilers’ potential
wider repertoire, of which little evidence exists. Moreover, it is not known whether
the transcribed tunes are those which were commonly played, those that were moreunusual or tunes that the compilers wished to learn. Gammon cautions that “both thematerial itself and the ways in which it has been interpreted can mislead us into
accepting what is only a partial and incomplete view as something more substantial”.18
Whilst we can collect together the evidence and proffer notions to help ourunderstanding, we are viewing the past through a blurred lens and must acknowledge
that we cannot understand the compilers’ culture or musical practice to its full extent.
As individual repositories of tunes, the content of Fiddlers’ Tunebooks is not uniform.
Some tunebooks comprise exclusively historic dance tunes, while others include songs,
contemporary dance tunes, religious music, military marches and so on. Likewise, they
were not exclusively compiled by fiddle players but also include the repertoires of

14

The Village Music Project, 'About', The Village Music Project (No date) <http://www.village-musicproject.org.uk/> [accessed 5 April 2017].
15
Ibid.
16
Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List'. An email conversation with J Adams confirmedthat the Folkopedia list, maintained by C Partington is more comprehensive than that found on the
VMP: John Adams, Email Correspondence (14 July 2014).
17
It is important to clarify that this thesis concentrates on manuscripts dating from approximately 1860c1880.
18
Vic Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, (Abingdon:
Routledge, 2016), p. 1.

20other monophonic instrumentalists such as flautists and cornet players. Of key
importance is the eclectic mix found. Despite containing some older tunes numerous
manuscripts contain tunes which were contemporary and popular at that time, manyof an ephemeral nature which have fallen out of common use and are now unknown.
The focus of study can be defined by the terms used by Folkopedia in describing their
Tune Manuscripts List:
This is a list of what are often referred to as Fiddler’s [sic] Tunebooks, though
they were sometimes evidently written by flute players or other
instrumentalists. As well as dance tunes, they often contain psalms, hymns,
songs and militia tunes…It is based on the database of historical dance tune
manuscripts compiled for the Village Music Project….19
The definition given by VMP is also helpful in defining the manuscript archive:
Often, musically literate musicians wrote down their tunes, songs, hymns,
psalms and band parts in a single book which was easily carried along with theirportable instrument. Some of these surviving hand written books date back to
the eighteenth century. Some are devoted entirely to church music, some tosecular music like the dance tunes of the day, and some are a rich mixture of allmusics of their time.20
In addition to this, to be considered within this specific study, the contents are handwritten and monophonic, generally comprising a single melody line, instrumental
dance tune or song.
During this period, musicians involved in other musical practices were also compilingmanuscripts of their repertoire; for example, manuscripts which contained exclusively
sacred, brass, military or double stave, polyphonic music intended for piano: the“Drawing-room Genre”.21 The difference between this musical practice and that
represented by the manuscripts comprising the focus of the VMP archive and thisthesis needs to be set out. Contrary to the demography of the mid-century Fiddlers’
Tunebook compilers revealed in Chapter 2, the Drawing-room genre was widely

19

Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List'.
The Village Music Project, 'About'.
21
Derek B. Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, 2nd edn,
(Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2001), p. 1. Although using the phrase ‘Drawing-room Practice’might be more appropriate to indicate the amalgamation of different genres within the same musicalpractice, I adopt Derek Scott’s use as a term throughout this thesis. Quotation marks will not be used for
subsequent uses of the term and the word genre is uncapitalised.
20

21

enjoyed by the middle classes. It was an aspirational practice, generally a female
pursuit, perceived to be respectable and polite. Throughout the century this musicalpractice gained popularity and by the end of the century had filtered down through to
the lower occupational classes as mass production resulted in a reduction in the costof pianos, availability of hire purchase and hence increased accessibility. However, atthe time under consideration they were distinct musical practices. The focus of thisresearch is not centred on such manuscripts. The historiographies of these musicalpractices and musicians exist in their own right.22 Despite the thesis revealing muchshared repertoire between the practice represented by the manuscripts and theseother musical practices, there are important and distinct differences, particularly in
relation to the demographic and the sources. Therefore, it is necessary to carve out adistinct place for the vernacular instrumental manuscripts, their contents and creators,
whilst being careful not to create restrictive boundaries.
Ensuring compatibility of all extant manuscripts to fit within the scope of the terms is
problematic. Despite VMP and Folkopedia collating the list of known manuscripts, thelengthy task of finding, accessing, assessing and cataloguing the contents of all the
manuscripts is yet to be done. Until a large-scale survey of all the extant manuscripts iscarried out, it is not known to what extent the archive, as held by the Folkopedia and
VMP databases, is representative of other nineteenth-century musical practices.
Consequently, the number of manuscripts belonging specifically to the secular,monophonic instrumental musical practice epitomised by the Fiddlers’ Tunebooks, isunknown and leaves the archive somewhat undefined. So too, musicians could be
multi-functional, and manuscripts exist which reflect a crossover of practices.
22

Amateur song and the Drawing-room genre make up the topic of several books. See below for someexamples: Dave Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, 2nd edn, (Manchester:Manchester University Press, 1997); Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Roomand Parlour; Derek B. Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution
in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna, 2nd edn, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2011);
Edward Lee, Music of the People: A Study of Popular Music in Great Britain, 1st edn, (London: Barrie &Jenkins (Barrie Books Ltd), 1970). Although I feel uncomfortable analysing musical practice in classterms, it is a necessary part of the research. Gammon qualifies the approach, stating that: “The classbasis of forms of musical activity should be of prime consideration to the researcher as it is only when
this is analysed that relations between social classes and particular forms of musical perception andpractice can be investigated”. Vic Gammon, 'Problems of Method in the Historical Study of PopularMusic', Popular Music Perspectives, (1982), 16-31 (p. 22). For histories of brass band and military musicsee Trevor Herbert, 'The Repertory of a Victorian Provincial Brass Band.', Popular Music, 9. 1 (1990),
117-32. <http://www.jstor.org.eresources.shef.ac.uk/stable/pdf/852887.pdf> [accessed 8 July 2016];
Lewis Winstock, Songs & Music of the Redcoats, (London: Leo Cooper, 1970); Dennis Taylor, English
Brass Bands and Their Music, 1860-1930, (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011).

22Moreover, it will never be known how many of the musicians who compiled one genreof manuscript also participated in other musical practices without the need formanuscripts, or without extant documentary manuscript evidence. Ultimately, themanuscript archive under discussion in this research is represented by manuscripts
which contain a predominance of hand-written, monophonic, instrumental, domestic
and social secular dance and song music.
Existing Studies and the Wider Literature
Academic study on instrumental music of the ‘ordinary’ people in the nineteenthcentury is scant. The lack of scholarly acknowledgement of these manuscripts reflects
this. Katy Spicer, chief executive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS)
noted in her welcome in the programme for the 2017 Traditional Tunes and PopularSong conference that: “This is our first conference to focus on tunes rather than songs
and it is fitting that we should finally examine, in its own right, the very element thatlinks across song, dance and instrumental playing”.23
Work has and is being done on traditional song collections but the “music has been
researched and studied much less than song”,24 resulting in the manuscripts being
overlooked by scholars and rarely the focus of major academic studies. However, it isimportant to recognise Gilchrist’s contribution to the tune field in the 1940s at a time
when most focus had been on song studies,25 and also to acknowledge that scholarship
was occurring on manuscripts and fiddle repertoire in North America.26 It is interestingthat some of this work, in line with my findings, identifies that the tune field lags
behind that of folk song in terms of scholarly recognition,27 and similarly notes the23

Katy Spicer, 'Welcome', in Traditional Tunes and Popular Airs. History and Transmission, (Cecil Sharp
House, London: University of Aberdeen and EFDSS, 2017), (p. 2).
24
Banfield and Russell, 'England (I)'. For examples of the work focussing on folk song, see much of thecontent in The Folk Music Journal (FMJ) and Roud, Folk Song in England.
25
Anne G. Gilchrist, 'Old Fiddlers' Tune Books of the Georgian Period', Journal of the English Folk Danceand Song Society, 4. 1 (1940), 15-22.
26
Samuel P. Bayard, 'Some Folk Fiddlers' Habits and Styles in Western Pennsylvania', Journal of theInternational Folk Music Council, 8 (1956), 15-18; Chris Goertzen, 'Philander Seward's "Musical Deposit"
and the History of American Instrumental Folk Music', Ethnomusicology, 26. 1 (1982), 1-10; Chris
Goertzen and Alan Jabbour, 'George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels and Fiddling in the Antebellum South',American Music, 5. 2 (1987), 121-44; William Alan MacPherson, 'The Music of the English Country
Dance' (PhD, Harvard University, 1984).
27
Bayard, 'Some Folk Fiddlers' Habits and Styles in Western Pennsylvania', p. 15. Goertzen, 'Philander
Seward's "Musical Deposit" and the History of American Instrumental Folk Music', p. 1.

23

importance of textual interaction.28 Within the field of popular music, commenting
directly on Scott’s research into the nineteenth-century Drawing-room genre, Russell
notes the gap in instrumental music scholarship hoping “others might attempt toconstruct a similar picture of the instrumental repertoire and shed much-needed lighton this aspect of the domestic tradition”.29
A survey of recent academic studies relating specifically to manuscripts,30 revealed
only five academic theses, only two of which use the manuscripts as their key area of
focus: Gammon’s unpublished PhD thesis,31 of which the third chapter constitutes thepaper, ‘Manuscript Sources Of Traditional Dance Music In Southern England’,32
published in 1986, and Campbell’s 2012 work, ‘Reconsidering and Contextualising the
Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British Manuscript Compilations (16502000)’,33 both discussed in depth below.
Some research has been undertaken in specific regions, mainly the north of England,34
and evidence from online forums and publications demonstrates that amateurs andfolk-music enthusiasts have carried out work, looking in much detail at some of themusicians who played this music and on individual manuscripts.35 This work is valuable,
but the lack of input from academic institutions makes English folk music, instrumental
vernacular popular music and the manuscript archive as a whole, appear like a poorer
relative to the canon of Western art music which still remains the chief focus in many
British university musicology departments.

28

Goertzen, 'Philander Seward's "Musical Deposit" and the History of American Instrumental Folk
Music', p. 1. Goertzen and Jabbour, 'George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels and Fiddling in the Antebellum
South', p. 121.
29
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 181.
30
By ‘recent’ I am referring to approximately the last thirty years.
31
Vic Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914' (PhD diss., University of Sussex,1985).
32
Vic Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', Traditional Dance,
4 (1986), 53-72.
33
Stephen W. J. Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Musicand British Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)' (PhD diss., University of York, 2012).
34
See for example: Matt Seattle, The Great Northern Tune Book : William Vickers' Collection of Dance
Tunes Ad 1770, (London: English Folk Dance & Song Society, 2008); Folk Archive Resource North East,'Welcome to Farne', Gateshead Central Library (No date) <http://www.folknortheast.com/> [accessed 3
November 2015]; Julian Taylor, 'Music of North West England', Julian Taylor<http://www.fiddlemusic.co.uk/north-west-music.htm> [accessed 11 November 2014]; Campbell,'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British Manuscript
Compilations (1650-2000)'.
35
Their work is considered in more depth below.

24

Academic Approaches to the Manuscripts
The two notable academic works highlighted above examine the manuscripts in depth.
Both use manuscript sources at the core of their discussion and two key arguments
emerge which make up part of the chief critical enquiry within this thesis. Both theses
dispel the previously accepted notion of transmission via purely oral/aural means, andacknowledge the heterogeneous content, raising questions over genre boundaries.36
Three further scholarly works are relevant, which despite not focussing solely on
manuscripts refer to them throughout their research. MacPherson’s ‘The Music of the
English Country Dance’ only came to light as I was completeing my thesis. Written in
1984 it centres on printed sources but was useful with reference to my discussion
regarding the interaction between literacy and aurality/orality.37 More recent theses,
Pendlebury’s 2015 MPhil thesis, ‘Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional”
Dance Tunes of Britain and Ireland’,38 and Yates’ 2013 PhD thesis, ‘Excavating Notes:
The Archaeology of Canon Formation in Manx Music’,39 share key themes withGammon and Campbell, acknowledging the eclectic mix of content and the importanceof print on transmission.40
Gammon’s paper, in which he analyses the content of the surviving Sussex
manuscripts, dating between 1796 and circa 1850, was ground-breaking in the fields ofboth vernacular music and social history and questioned many pre-conceived notions,particularly concerning transmission and content.41 He was struck by the musicological
exception of the Turner manuscript, which was the latest of his sources (1840-1850),
containing ‘more up to the moment dance tunes and quadrille sets from the midnineteenth century’,42 as opposed to a more historic repertoire. Gammon,undoubtedly the expert in this field, writes with extensive knowledge as both the key

36

Detailed evidence to support this is given in the main discussion regarding these points in Chapters 3
and 4.
37
MacPherson, 'The Music of the English Country Dance'. Alice Little kindly brought this thesis to myattention.
38
Celia Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes of Britain and
Ireland' (University of Sheffield, 2015).
39
Cinzia Yates, 'Excavating Notes: The Archaeology of Canon Formation in Manx Music' (Cardiff
University, 2013).
40
Ibid. p. 60 & 100. Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes ofBritain and Ireland', p. 32 & 54.
41
See discussion in Chapters 3 & 4.
42
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 60.

25

academic and a long-time participant in folk music. As a trained historian, he brings adual perspective to the sources, and views his thesis as “stepping beyond previous
work in attempting to relate text to context, musical practice to social practice”.43
Added to this, his musical knowledge facilitates a musical analysis of the tunes found in
the manuscripts, enabling him to draw conclusions regarding musically stylisticfeatures such as modality, modulation, key, range, rhythm and musical structure.
As a social and cultural historian, Gammon does not provide much detail regarding thephysical attributes and subsequent significance of the manuscripts themselves,
focussing more on content and contextual aspects. However, Campbell approaches themanuscripts as artefacts, using this to draw conclusions in areas such as function,
value, and demography. He considers the physical manuscripts themselves asimportant sources, providing a detailed codicological description for each of his casestudy manuscripts,44 considering aspects such as size, orientation, marginalia andcondition, parallel with an archaeological discipline.
Campbell’s work assesses the sources from a musicological standpoint dealing with“the content, context and musicological significance”,45 as opposed to a more social
historical stance. However, his individual sources differ so vastly from each other that I
find his comparative analysis is of little merit. That said, many of his key arguments arein line with Gammon’s. He too acknowledges the heterogeneous repertoire and assuch questions the labelling of the manuscripts as folk music.46 He suggests that: “Weare currently locked into an obsessively genre-centric paradigm, which constructs
boundaries rather than respecting a continuum, so many regard manuscripts like
Atkinson’s simply as folk music”,47 maintaining that “to classify these collections as
early examples of folk dance or traditional music is to oversimplify their actuality andto brush over the complex nature of their makeup and diversity”.48 It is commendable
that Campbell addresses the often-unspoken fact that despite generating interest

43

Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 5.
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)'. See chapters 4 and 5.
45
Ibid. p. 14.
46
This is discussed in depth in Chapter 3.
47
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 145.
48
Ibid. p. 16.
44

26

amongst current folk musicians, the manuscripts do not appear to represent folk music
in its inherited sense. Yet he does not provide a sufficient definition of his terms. So
too, his dislike of genre labelling and boundaries is problematic.
Steve Roud’s seminal book, Folk Song in England,49 does not address the vernacularmanuscript archive explicitly, but I find many of his ideas are transferrable. In response
to Campbell’s stance above, I would argue that boundaries are necessary and takeRoud’s view that, “if we want to find out what it is and how it fits into the grandscheme of things, we have to start drawing conclusions, and we usually start bydrawing boundaries”.50
Before considering Roud’s contribution in more depth, it is important to establish his
book as a work of academic merit. It could be argued that despite Roud’s wellrespected position in the folk song field, his absence of academic background could
place this book more amongst works for and by interested enthusiasts rather than as areference for academic research. Despite Roud having written articles for peerreviewed academic journals,51 and published internationally by academic publishers,52
Folk Song in England, is published by independent publishing house (Faber & Faber),rather than an academic publisher. Similarly, despite the tone and material being
scholarly and theoretical, the nature of his discussion could be argued to be aimed
towards knowledgeable enthusiasts. However, Roud is an established and highly
respected researcher and the approach in the book is erudite and academic. The twochapters specifically concerning folk song music are authored by expert and academic,
Dr Julia Bishop and the book is supported by EFDSS,53 and was launched in August
2017 at the British Library. Despite its recent publication, reviews already exist in
respected publications,54 and an academic journal.55 In his review, Gammon

49

Roud, Folk Song in England.
Ibid. p. 15.
51
For example: Steve Roud and Paul Smith, 'James Madison Carpenter and the Mummers' Play', Folk
Music Journal, 7. 4 (1998), 496-513.
52
Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2003).
53
EFDSS held a workshop in their Autumn 2017 programme entitled An Introduction to Folk Song in
England, presented by Roud: EFDSS, 'What's On', EFDSS (2017) <https://www.efdss.org> [accessed 5
October 2017].
54
Kathryn Hughes, 'Folk Song in England by Steve Roud Review - the Music of the Common People?',The Guardian (2017) <https://www.theguardian.com> [accessed 21 November 2017]; The Economist,
50

27

commends the book as “the most significant, important and interesting book on
English folk song published in my lifetime”,56 and affirms its academic credentials bystating that “if I were still teaching university courses on folk music I have no doubt I
would make it a set text”.57 The names listed in Roud’s ‘Acknowledgements’,58 read as
a list of academic luminaries in the field, most notably, Vic Gammon, Ian Russell andJulia Bishop.59 This further sets this pivotal tome as an equal amongst academic
literature and moreover a vital contribution to the field.
Roud’s ideas are considered in more depth in the subsequent section, in which thediscussion moves away from a manuscript specific literature review towards acontextually relevant historiography of folk music. A wider range of academic
literature is drawn upon, from folk song, folk music and popular music domains.
However, in view of the paucity of material relating directly to the manuscript archive
there is a necessity to widen the scope of reference literature beyond solely academic
works in the specific field. As such, the remainder of this section considers nonacademic approaches to the manuscripts and vernacular instrumental music, inaddition to literary fiction and assesses the awareness of the manuscript archive inwider academic literature.
Non-Academic Approaches to the Manuscripts
Awareness of the manuscripts exists outside the academic world and the contents
attract the attention of current folk music enthusiasts and musicians to a much greater
extent than academic musicologists, ethnomusicologists or historians. This may
perpetuate the perception that the archive belongs in the folk music domain, and it ispossible that dilettantism has lowered the manuscripts’ credibility within academic
circles, resulting in less critical study. However, the interest from the amateur field hashelped ensure the manuscripts’ survival and accessibility. Digital copies are being'English Folk Song, a Great Tradition', The Economist (2017) <https://www.economist.com> [accessed 21
November 2017].
55
Vic Gammon, 'Reviews - Folk Song in England (Roud)', Folk Music Journal, 11. 3 (2018), 127-30.
56
Ibid. p. 127.
57
Ibid. p. 130.
58
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. xi.
59
In addition to Roud’s acknowledgement, Dr Bishop also contributed two entire chapters to the book,see above.

28

stored, their contents are being transcribed in both ‘abc’ format,60 and traditional
notation online,61 and a number of manuscripts are increasingly being reproduced andpublished as tune books,62 making them accessible and playable by today’s musicians.
A recent example would be the 2012 publication of Benjamin Rose’s 1820
manuscript.63 This is a self-published, high quality semi-facsimile edition of the original
with detailed background notes. It pivots between a scholarly edition and aperformance edition, although its scholarly content is intended for an interested
reader rather than an academic. There are dangers in using these non-academic works
to understand and assess the place of the manuscripts which is discussed in depth
later.
Non-Academic Interest in Wider Instrumental Music
Valuable information regarding secular, vernacular instrumentalists can be found fromoral narratives in recent research such as that carried out by Chandler and his studies
into nineteenth-century musicians,64 Taylor’s excavated nineteenth-century
newspaper articles referencing amateur musicians,65 Heath-Coleman’s examination of60‘Abc’ format is a text-based notation system often used by folk music enthusiasts. See Chris Walshaw,'Abc Notation Home Page', abc notation (2017) <http://abcnotation.com/> [accessed 14 April 2017].
61
For example: Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, 'Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Memorial
Library', English Folk Dance and Song Society, Cecil Sharp House (No date) <http://www.vwml.org/vwmlhome> [accessed 13 October 2015]; GlosTrad, 'Home', GlosTrad (2017) <http://glostrad.com/>[accessed 14 April 2017]; Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Welcome to the Traditional Tune
Archive', Traditional Tune Archive (2017) <http://tunearch.org> [accessed 4 October 2015]; Joe Wass,'Folk Tune Finder', folk tune finder (No date) <http://www.folktunefinder.com/> [accessed 14 April2017]; Walshaw, 'Abc Notation Home Page'.
62
Seattle, The Great Northern Tune Book : William Vickers' Collection of Dance Tunes Ad 1770; Andy
Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale, (Andy Hornby, 2013); Geoff Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks
Tune Book, (Somerset: Halsway Manor Society, 2007); Colin Thompson and Tim Laycock, Benjamin's
Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of Benjamin Rose, (Colin Thompson and Tim Laycock,No date); Robin Shepherd and Rosalind Shepherd, Mr Joshua Jackson Book 1798 : Tunes, Songs &Dances from the Manuscript of a Yorkshire Corn Miller and Musician Volume Two, (West Yorkshire: R &R Shepherd, 2011); Geoff Bowen and others, Tunes, Songs & Dances from the 1798 Manuscript of
Joshua Jackson North Yorkshire Corn Miller and Musician, Volume One, 2nd edn, (Bowen & Shepherd,2015); Mike O'Connor, Dons an Garrow, (Cornwall: Lyngham House, 2005); Mike O'Connor, Echoes of
Old Kea, (Cornwall: Lyngham House, 2001).
63
Thompson and Laycock, Benjamin's Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of Benjamin Rose.
64
Keith Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England', Musical Traditions (2000)<http://www.mustrad.org.uk> [accessed 14 October 2015]. Chandler’s essay is divided into eight
different articles on the Mustrad website, featuring a total of sixteen musicians and can be found in thisorder: MT061 General Introduction part 1, MT064 General Introduction part 2, MT066 General
Introduction part 3, MT078 General Introduction part 4, MT180 8-10, MT187 11, MT188 12-15, MT189
16.
65
Taylor, 'Music of North West England'.

29

Gloucestershire fiddler Stephen Baldwin,66 and Hall’s detailed study of nineteenthcentury fiddle-player, Scan Tester.67 A small number of memoirs and autobiographiesof amateur nineteenth-century musicians exist too, such as the memories of Henry
Burstow, “the celebrated bellringer and songsinger”, from Horsham (1826-1916),68
Bob Copper’s memories, auto-biography and history of three generations of folk-singer
and their lives, dating from 1845,69 and the spiritual autobiography of working-classmusician, James Nye (1822-1892).70 Such resources are valuable primary sources,
having been written by or collected from people who remembered traditional
activities in their communities, but it is worth acknowledging that the oral narratives
could have been subjected, consciously or subconsciously, to a personal bias either by
the informant, the collector or both.
Arguably, the authors of some oral narratives could be perceived as ‘enthusiasts’
rather than academics, and the articles not viewed as credible as they do not comefrom a peer-reviewed academic journal. However, many are written by people whose
lives have been dominated by performing and researching folk or traditional music.
Despite not writing under the auspices of an academic institution or considered
professional in that they are paid for their work, their expertise and depth ofknowledge must class them as more than enthusiasts. Although their work may not be
academically peer-reviewed, articles such as those found on the Musical Traditions
Internet Magazine (Mustrad) website,71 are subject to the scrutiny of editors, andother knowledgeable yet non-professional peers. Some articles in the enthusiasts’domain are from respected academic writers who have published books or had articles
published in academic journals.72 There are parallels here with the revivalist
66

Philip Heath-Coleman, Stephen Baldwin 'Here's One You'll Like, I Think', (Musical Traditions, 2005).
Reg Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', Musical Traditions Internet
Magazine, (1990), <http://www.mustrad.org.uk/> [accessed 4 June 2016].
68
Henry Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham Being Recollections of Henry Burstow. The Celebrated
Bellringer & Songsinger, (Horsham: Free Christian Church Book Society, 1911).
69
Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season, (Newton Abbot: Country Book Club, 1972).
70
James Nye, 'A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness', in A Small Account of My Travels
through the Wilderness, ed. by Vic Gammon (Brigton: QueenSpark, 1860-1888), pp. 11-47.
71
Musical Traditions, 'Musical Traditions', Musical Traditions (2017) <http://www.mustrad.org.uk/>[accessed 22 September 2015].
72
See for example, Keith Chandler, 'Popular Culture in Microcosm: The Manuscript Diaries of Richard
Heritage of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire', Folk Music Journal, 9. 1 (2006), 5-55
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/4522775> [accessed 14 October 2015]. Additionally, Michael Pickering,academic, editor and published author (Michael Pickering, 'Towards a Cartography of the Vernacular
Milieu', in Everyday Culture : Popular Song and the Vernacular Milieu, ed. by Michael Pickering and Tony
67

30

movement in the early-twentieth-century many of whom, including Sharp, started
folk-song collecting as a part-time interest whilst employed in other fields.
These and other articles are useful sources with which to assess the landscape,soundscape and lives of the musicians and provide a contextual framework in which toview the compilers. However, their specific value in this study is limited as very little
information emerges regarding actual manuscripts and musical literacy. Many of themusicians could potentially be musically illiterate ‘ear-players’,73 and not
representative of the musicians responsible for creating and using the manuscripts.
Literary Fiction as a Resource
Another notable form of literature, which exposes much of relevance to the field in
both musicological and social historical contexts, comes from the fiction literature andpoetry of writers such as Thomas Hardy and Flora Thompson. Thompson’s trilogy Lark
Rise to Candleford,74 and sequel, Heatherley,75 are semi-autobiographical accounts ofrural, everyday life during the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, juxtaposed with
the new urban influences of the time. Importantly, the accounts are told from aworking-class perspective, whose history often escapes the historical record andalthough bucolic they refrain from falling into the ‘Romantic’, pastoral idyll of
nostalgia.
It is well known that Hardy was a fiddle player, and not only did he own and play fromsome of his family’s own manuscripts, he wrote about musical activity in Under theGreenwood Tree.76 Asserting that, “this story… is intended to be a fairly true picture, atfirst hand, of the personages, ways, and customs which were common among suchorchestral bodies in the villages of fifty or sixty years ago”,77 he provides further
contextual evidence in many other of his works.78 His preface to the book, quoted at
Green (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1987).), has also contributed to Mustrad: Michael
Pickering, 'Bartholomew Callow Village Musician', Musical Traditions (1986)<http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/callow.htm> [accessed 3 December 2014].
73‘Ear-players’ is a term used by Reg Hall to describe musicians who ‘play by ear’, or from memory,rather than using the visual aid of textual music: Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh
Dances" Mt215', p. 31.
74
Flora Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, 3rd edn, (London: Penguin Books, 1973).
75
Flora Thompson, Heatherley, 4th edn, (Hampshire: John Owen Smith, 2005).
76
Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree.
77
Ibid. p. xxiii.
78
Elna Sherman, 'Thomas Hardy: Lyricist, Symphonist', Music & Letters, 21. 2 (1940), 143-71<http://www.jstor.org/stable/727177>.

31

the opening of this thesis, makes reference to the manuscript books first hand. His
mention of the sacred and secular meeting, inverted in the middle can be seen inmanuscripts within the archive alongside shared repertoire with Hardy’s own
manuscript, further validating Hardy’s perspective.79
Admittedly, these are intended as works of fiction and there can be elements ofpotential bias, dislike of, and reticence to accept, modern and changing ways.
However, despite writing with a specific agenda, such writers can nonetheless usefully
inform contextually, historically and musically too. Their information is vital when
conducting a critical study on areas of society for which little historical record was
made. Gammon argues that descriptive or literary evidence can be taken
authoritatively if consistency can be observed,80 and following his research in Sussex,
concludes that Hardy’s description of nineteenth-century vernacular musical life inUnder the Greenwood Tree, “is a substantially correct account…”.81
Awareness of the Manuscripts in Wider Academic Literature
Awareness of the tunebooks appears minimal within academic institutions and in thewider literature. As such, distinct acknowledgement can be given to those who
explicitly indicate their existence. Marsh, writing in 2010 demonstrates consciousnessof the archive, discussing the Henry Atkinson manuscript (circa 1694/5), stating that it
is “an interesting and neglected source”,82 and both Lloyd,83 and Russell,84 are aware of
the manuscripts, discussed below. To date, most scholarly work in the wider field of
vernacular nineteenth-century music has focussed on song, whether that is folk song,or popular song favoured by the Drawing-room genre, perhaps exacerbating themanuscripts’ inconspicuousness.

79

See in Till/Clutterbuck MS for example Til.58.1-Til.59.1 where the inverted sacred music meets thesecular and shared repertoire such as ‘The Great Eastern Polka’ (Til.21.1) and ‘Ask Mamma Polka’(Til.30.1); Roger Trim and others, The Musical Heritage of Thomas Hardy, (Dragonfly Music, 1990);
Andrew Kuntz, 'As-Att - Ask Mamma Polka', The Fiddler's Companion (2009) <http://www.ibiblio.org>[accessed 5 March 2015].
80
Vic Gammon, 'The Performance Style of West Gallery Music', Gallery Music<http://www.gallerymusic.co.uk/articles/GP1/GP1-6-Gammon.pdf> [accessed 15th September 2015].
81
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 70.
82
Christopher Marsh, Music and Society in Early Modern England, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2010), p. 211.
83
A. L. Lloyd, Folk Song in England, (St Albans: Paladin, 1975 (1967)).
84
Banfield and Russell, 'England (I)'.

32

It is notable that the instrumental music field is behind the vernacular song and history
fields in broaching the critical question of definitions and the associated arguments
surrounding orality and tradition formation. Due to the paucity of academic material
specifically focussed on manuscript sources and instrumental tunes, my research has
needed to widen the scope and consider song scholarship as part of a broader field. I
believe this crossover into the song field is appropriate, in part because song melodies
can be found in the manuscripts, sometimes in their role as the tune to a song, othertimes as a melody adapted for dancing or purely for aesthetic value, as an‘entertainment’ tune.85 Hall writes that melodies, “have had varied careers”, 86
doubling as song melodies, and forming part of the dance music repertoire. A further
reference is made to songs being used as dance tunes within the Lancers set dance.87
For the purposes of this study, I consider the tunes as melodies regardless of whether
they have existed as songs or dances.
However, three prominent figures have focussed specifically on historical instrumental
melodies and deserve acknowledgement here. Anne Giddes Gilchrist, who researched
printed seventeenth-century instrumental tunes in great detail,88 Frank Kidson (18551926) who was pioneering in his recognition of the dichotomy between popular tunes
and the emerging folk genre,89 and Margaret Dean-Smith who, in 1956, published afacsimile reprint of Playford’s 1651 English Dancing Master,90 accompanied by adetailed introduction and notes to the tunes. In the book’s introduction, Dean-Smith
explained that she was keen to turn her attention to the context of the compilationand to the tunes themselves “not to pursue an argument whether the tunes anddances be ‘folk’ or not...”.91

85

I refer to tunes whose title might imply a dance, for example a Waltz, yet the tune’s function may nothave been to accompany dances, rather to be listened to as music for its own sake, discussed in Chapter
5.
86Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 79.
87
Ibid. p. 82.
88
Anne G. Gilchrist, 'Some Additional Notes on the Traditional History of Certain Ballad-Tunes in theDancing Master (1650)', Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, 3. 4 (1939), 274-80.
89Frank Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', Proceedings of the Musical Association, 34 (1907), 81-99. See
also John Francmanis, 'The Roving Artist: Frank Kidson, Pioneer Song Collector', Folk Music Journal, 8. 1
(2001), 41-66 (p. 60).
90
Margaret Dean-Smith, Playford's English Dancing Master 1651. A Facsimile Reprint with an
Introduction, Bibliography and Notes, 1st edn, (London: Schott & Co., 1957).
91
Ibid. p. xx.

33

So too, my intention was that my research would not be drawn into the contentious
debate regarding a definition of folk music. I hoped that due to the manuscripts’
creation during the period when the term folk music was an embryonic notion, I could
avoid the simplistic association of manuscripts as examples of folk music. However, thecurrent fluid position of the archive within the folk music domain, outlined below,
together with the evidence from the manuscripts telling a different story, requires me
to confront the issue. I realised that broaching the metaphorical ‘elephant in theroom’, was an imperative and long overdue task. The question of whether thesemanuscripts fit more comfortably in nineteenth-century popular music culture orwhether they also have a place in English folk music tradition needed to be explored.
Thorny Traditions and Slippery Definitions
Regardless of the position taken on whether folk music existed as a historic genre orwhether it is “a culturally and socially constructed category”,92 and before unpacking
the notoriously contentious term of folk tradition, it is necessary to acknowledge thatin contemporary culture a genre of folk or traditional music exists. There are folk
festivals, folk awards, academic journals and enthusiasts’ magazines, an interest in folk
music from amateur to degree level and beyond, amateurs and professional artists
who identify as folk musicians and a large audience who relate to these commodities
and participate in sustaining this genre.
Furthermore, it is important to accept that the manuscripts play a part in thiscontemporary genre, or at least to recognise that it is amongst current folk music
enthusiasts that the tunebooks generate most interest. The manuscripts are listed on
folk related websites such as the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML),93
Folkopedia,94 and VMP;95 they are discussed in folk based forums, magazines andjournals such as ‘Mustrad’,96 ‘The Session’,97 ‘The Traditional Tune Archive’ (TTA),98
92

Trish Winter and Simon Keegan-Phipps, Performing Englishness: Identity and Politics in aContemporary Folk Resurgence (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013), p. 8. This aligns with
Pickering’s 1990 view that ‘the categories of folk song and folk culture are now increasingly understoodas academic constructs externally imposed on vernacular cultural process and artefacts, Michael
Pickering, 'Recent Folk Music Scholarship in England: A Critique ', Folk Music Journal, 6. 1 (1990), 37-64(p. 38).
93
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, 'Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library'.
94
Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List'.
95
The Village Music Project, 'About'.
96
Musical Traditions, 'Musical Traditions'.
97
The Session, 'Failte', The Session <https://thesession.org/> [accessed 14 October 2015].

34

and ‘folktunefinder’;99 they are reproduced for a folk based sheet music market;100 andused as tune sources for amateur and professional musicians alike.101 Campbell
acknowledges this association, declaring “they have been claimed by folk music
enthusiasts and performers as traditional music…such collections have attracted theattentions of and been sought out by enthusiastic revivalists of ‘traditional’ music”.102
He also states that:the rediscovery of handwritten music manuscripts of performing musiciansfrom the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries has been swept up as part of therevival of folk music. Consequently, the music included in these compilations
has, by default, been compartmentalised as part of a ‘folk’ genre.103
The current position of these manuscripts in the folk music field bears undercurrentsof irony. By the end of the nineteenth-century Gelbart notes that the then esteemed,“pure, authentic and organic” folk music was set quite apart from the “commercial,corrupt and low”,104 popular music and it is interesting that these tunebooks
containing popular, commercial music are now viewed in higher regard than theywould have been by their own creators, - the “corrupt rabble”!105
Establishing when this occurred is important in trying to discover why it happened. For
example, in my family the manuscript’s existence was always known, yet it was merely
a collection of music, no label was ascribed to it. Manuscripts held by other families ordeposited in institutions as part of a deceased’s estate were historical yet passive
collections of a past musical practice. It appears that after the post-war re-interest in
folk music, around the 1970s and 1980s the manuscripts began to stir an interest
amongst practicing folk musicians. Campbell cites Jackson’s manuscript as being

98

Kuntz and Pelliccioni, 'Welcome to the Traditional Tune Archive'.
Wass, 'Folk Tune Finder'.
100
Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book; Bowen and others Tunes, Songs & Dances from the1798 Manuscript of Joshua Jackson North Yorkshire Corn Miller and Musician, Volume One; Shepherd
and Shepherd, Mr Joshua Jackson Book 1798 : Tunes, Songs & Dances from the Manuscript of aYorkshire Corn Miller and Musician Volume Two; Seattle, The Great Northern Tune Book : William
Vickers' Collection of Dance Tunes Ad 1770; Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale; Thompson and Laycock,
Benjamin's Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of Benjamin Rose.
101
For example: Leveret, 'Leveret @ the Convent', in The Convent, (Woodchester, 2016).
102
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 23.
103
Ibid. p. 377.
104
Matthew Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music” : Emerging Categories from Ossian
to Wagner, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 257.
105
Ibid. p. 258.
99

35

“unearthed in Harrogate in the early 1970s”,106 and in 1977 the first republication
appears to have been printed,107 notably of Hardy’s tunebook, this association perhaps
raising the manuscripts’ profile further. In her Appendices, Pendlebury catalogued
many of the re-publications,108 and when combined with other re-publications I havefound, a large growth in interest can be seen over the decades.109 The height of republications occurs in the 1990s, mirroring the time when the ‘virtual’ archive wasdrawn up (VMP).
The VMP resource and its custodians are involved in, and make up a valuable part ofEnglish folk music practice today. They are pragmatic in defining their work, avoiding
the term folk music, and carefully clarify their terms. However, it could be argued thatby using the term ‘village’ they imply rurality, placing the manuscripts within aromanticised bucolic image, thus fitting into the ideals of the first revival.
In naming the project it was difficult to describe the territory that we had inmind without being too narrow or begging preconceived notions. 'Village
Music' merely refers to the feel of the project, because the terms 'community
music', 'urban music', 'folk dance music', etc. don't describe our raw material
with any accuracy. Our music was and is played in towns and villages, forweddings and wakes, by and for most classes in English society.110
I believe that the resurgence of interest in the manuscripts was intensified by the new
found wider interest (or post-war revival) in folk music. It appears that without explicit
examination or critical enquiry into the eclectic nature of the contents and means oftransmission, the manuscripts were indeed “swept up as part of the revival”.111
Possibly lured by the authenticity and “connection with the past”,112 that tradition
provides, the status of the manuscripts as folk music repositories was raised abovethat of their existence as personal collections of Victorian popular music. The
106

Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 14.
107
Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes of Britain and Ireland'.
Appendix 1.
108
Ibid.
109
The following list compiled using Pendlebury’s figures combined with additional ones added bymyself denotes the number of publications each decade:1970s = 1; 1980s = 8; 1990s = 20; 2000s = 16;
2010s = 3.
110
The Village Music Project, 'Aims', The Village Musoc Project (No date) <http://www.village-musicproject.org.uk/?page_id=11> [accessed 5 February 2017].
111
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 377.
112
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 3. See also Philip V. Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in the Modern
World, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988), p. 130.

36

manuscript archive was perceived to be part of folk music tradition. It could beobserved as ironic that those who embraced and absorbed the manuscript archive into
the folk music field were of the same generation as those who berated the early folksong collectors as having invented a tradition.113
Thus, the manuscripts are currently found within a contemporary folk music domain.
Yet my research has revealed that many of their defining characteristics are contrary
to the received perception of what folk music is considered to be.114 As discussed
above, other scholars in the field have begun to articulate this, most recently Campbell
and Pendlebury.115 Whilst a more in-depth examination of definitions follows, it isworth noting here that common perceptions (arguably mis-perceptions) centre on thenecessity of a folk music to have little textual influence, transmitted chiefly via
oral/aural means and to have rural, historic, sometimes communal or un-authoredorigins.
This thesis does not need to be concerned with how the contemporary folk music oftoday is defined and it is important to state that any attempt to assign a definition tosuit the music it describes now and the music it describes over one hundred years ago
will fail: “the dynamic nature of folk music belies the stasis of definition”.116 However,
it is crucial to examine both the past and today’s understanding of what folk music wasthen, when the manuscripts were being produced. The following section moves thediscussion on from reviewing literature which relates directly to the manuscripts tofocus briefly on the historiography of English folk music and use of fundamental terms.
1860s-1880s
At the time the compilers were selecting and playing their tunes, the concept of folk
music as a specific genre did not exist in general usage, and a key feature of vernacular
music in the nineteenth-century was “that music was not departmentalised”.117
113

See for example: Harker, Fakesong : The Manufacture of British 'Folksong' 1700 to the Present Day;
Georgina Boyes, The Imagined Village : Culture, Ideology and the English Folk Revival, 2nd edn, (Leeds:
No Masters Co-operative Limited, 2010).
114
This important point is discussed in depth below.
115
Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes of Britain and Ireland',p. 32 & 54. Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music andBritish Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 23 & 377.
116
Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World, p. xviii. See also Roud, Folk Song in England,p. 18.
117
Ronald Pearsall, Victorian Popular Music, (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1973), p. 12.

37

Despite implying ancient origins, the term ‘Folksong’, is said only to have emerged as a
descriptive genre in the late-eighteenth-century,118 and Roud states the term was firstused as a book title in 1870 and the second in 1891.119 The compilers would not haveperceived themselves as folk musicians. Likewise, the printed sources which aresubsequently revealed to feed the compilers’ repertoire did not refer to the material
as folk.120
Throughout this period and earlier, antiquarians, anthologists and interested amatuers
were keen collectors of old songs,121 yet they do not refer to them as folk song.
Chappell’s nineteenth-century studies similarly omit the term folk music, yet theoriginal edition dating from 1838-40 uses the word ‘national’ in the title to describe
the tunes: “A Collection of National English Airs…”, as quoted by Wooldridge in his
1893, retitled, edition of the book (Old English Popular Music).122 However, Chappell’slater study (first published in 1859), drops the ‘National’ reference in preference of thetitle Popular Music of the Olden Time.123 Roud defines Chappell’s use of the term
popular as “the ones most liked, or most characteristic of the time, or simply todifferentiate them from the classical songs of the day”.124 This dialecticaldifferentiation and the development of new genre labels in the nineteenth-century is
explored by Gelbart who observes a ternary opposition emerging of classical, folk andpopular.125 However, based on the evidence seen in printed publications no reference
specifically to folk music appears. To the compilers the manuscripts were likely viewed
simply as personal selections of popular music of the time. Correspondingly, Gammon

118

The term Volkslied was used by Herder (1744-1803).Carole Pegg, 'Folk Music', Grove Music Online.
Oxford Music Online, (2017),<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/subscriber/article/grove/music/09933>[accessed 7th January 2017].
119
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 75.
120
See Chapter 4.
121
For example: John Broadwood, David Herd, Joseph Ritson and William Sandys.
122
William Chappell, Old English Popular Music, (New York: Jack Brussel, 1961), p. v.
123
William Chappell, The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time, (New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1965).
124
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 41.
125
Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music” : Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner,
p. 7.

38

describes Turner’s repertoire as marking him out as “very much a 'pop' musician of hisday”.126
1890s-1950s
The very end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth-century was aflourishing period in terms of song collecting, carried out by the likes of Sharp, Kidson,
Baring Gould and Grainger. Societies emerged incorporating the term folk into theirtitles,127 and the song collectors became folk song collectors. Despite only just coming
into general usage, this is generally perceived as the period of the first folk revival. By
the turn of the century (1907), Sharp was defining the music as ‘folk-song’,128 in termsof origin from his sources, the rural, lower-class, “unlettered”,129 folk. Essential
features were oral/aural transmission, communal and unknown authorship andcommunal expression,130 alongside “the three principles of continuity, variation, andselection”.131 Sharp was opening up the discussion of English folk music and believed
he was approaching the topic “in the right spirit, scientifically, accurately and above allwith a scrupulous honesty and conscientiousness”.132 Unlike the grand narratives being
written at the time in other musicological genres, he believed it would be“premature…to essay a complete history of ‘English folk-song’. An exhaustive treatiseon the subject will some day have to be written”.133
It is important to single out one folk song collector here, who challenged some of
Sharp’s ideas, notably regarding orality/aurality and origin, Frank Kidson. Somewhat
ahead of his time,134 he incorporated ideas of selection and, more importantly here,126

Vic Gammon, 'Michael Turner. A 19th Century Sussex Fiddler (Mt068)', Musical Traditions (2000(1976)) <http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/turner.htm> [accessed 4 October 2017].
127
For example, the Folk-Song Society (1898), and the English Folk Dance Society (1911) which
amalgamated to form the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1932). Similarly, in 1947 with theInternational Folk Music Council which changed its name in 1981 to the International Council for
Traditional Music, due to definition issues. Sources of information: Pegg, 'Folk Music'; EFDSS, 'History',
EFDSS (No date) <https://www.efdss.org/efdss-about-us/history> [accessed 5 April 2017]; Mark Slobin,
Folk Music : A Very Short Introduction, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2011).
128
Cecil Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), (www.forgottenbooks.org: Forgotten Books,2012), p. 1.
129
Ibid. pp. 3-4.
130Ibid. pp. 14-15.
131
Ibid. p. 16.
132
Ibid. p. vii.
133
Ibid. p. viii.
134
My term echoes his niece, Ethel Kidson’s views that he was “always a little ahead of current thought
and never behind it”, quoted in: Francmanis, 'The Roving Artist: Frank Kidson, Pioneer Song Collector', p.
57.

39

process into his definition.135 Francmanis summarizes Kidson’s position stating that “tothe end of his days, Kidson remained resolute in the conviction that ‘folk song’, when
all was said and done, was often little more than archaic popular song”.136
It is crucial to recognise that the manuscripts, their compilers and the musical practicethey represented were of little interest to the early-twentieth-century folk songcollectors. The collectors were not ignorant of the manuscripts,137 but I argue that they
were aware that these manuscripts represented primarily the popular music of theday. They were not ignoring them; simply they were not interested in much of theircontents.138 The manuscripts’ inherent textual medium was contrary to their aims andthey would have been conscious (and which this thesis reveals) that the masses ofprinted, published source material wholly influenced the inward transmission. The
content, whilst containing some tunes of historic origin was made up chiefly ofcontemporary melody, such as popular classical music, minstrel songs, music-hall,waltzes, quadrilles and polkas. Equally, the folk song collectors would have been awarethat even the more historic or nation-specific material was widely available incontemporary or recently out-dated print, as revealed in this thesis. They knew exactly
the sort of repertoire they wanted to collect and ‘save’ and would understandably notselect these items and dismiss anything they knew to be modern, in popular demandor recently outdated – that was not their agenda.

135

Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', p. 82.
Francmanis, 'The Roving Artist: Frank Kidson, Pioneer Song Collector', p. 60.
137
For example, Kidson acknowledges the tunebooks’ existence by taking a tune from a Fiddler’s
Tunebook dated 1825, but appears to deem the source unimportant and omits supplying details of theowner, compiler and provenance of the manuscript. Frank Kidson, 'Traditional Tunes a Collection ofBallad Airs', (Yorkshire: S.R. Publishers Limited, 1970). Sharp was aware of the manuscripts’ existence asin 1912 he copied ‘The Greensleeves Dance’ tune from James Winder’s manuscript book (b. 1820).
Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale, p. 13. Baring-Gould also shows awareness of the manuscripts,
commenting in 1890 that, “In some parish chests may be found volumes of rudely written music, which
belonged to these performers, mostly sacred, but not always so”. Sabine Baring-Gould, Old Country Life,
2nd edn, ((London) Wakefield: (Methuen) EP Publishing Limited, (1890) 1975), p. 244.
138
See also Atkinson’s discussion regarding song repertoire in which he acknowledges that “…certain
people did choose to sing what are now described as ‘folk songs’, even if they also sang a good deal ofother things that were not taken down at the time”, and his quotation showing Baring-Gould’s
awareness of Mr Fone’s eclectic repertoire. David Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', in Folk Song
Tradition, Revival, and Re-Creation, ed. by Ian Russell (Aberdeen: The Elphinstone Institute University ofAberdeen, 2004), pp. 144-62 (p. 145). See also Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 7.
13640

By 1954 the International Folk Music Council (IFMC) had fashioned a definition for folk
music, chiefly based on Sharp’s earlier description, which became widely accepted, yet
in a modern context appears somewhat inadequate:
Folk music is the product of a musical tradition that has been evolved throughthe process of oral transmission. The factors that shape the tradition are (i)continuity, which links the present with the past; (ii) variation, which springs
from the creative impulse of the individual or the group; and (iii) selection by
the community, which determines the form, or forms, in which the music
survives.
To this definition the following, more explicit statements were added:
(i)

(ii)

The term folk music can be applied to music that has been evolved fromrudimentary beginnings by a community uninfluenced by popular or art
music and it can likewise be applied to music which has originated withan individual composer and has subsequently been absorbed into theunwritten living tradition of a community;
The term does not cover popular composed music that has been takenover ready-made by a community and remains unchanged, for it is the
re-fashioning and re-creation of the music by the community which
gives it its folk character. 139

As stated earlier, it is futile to attempt to globally define (or confine) a concept which isin constant flux. Consequently there are clear issues with this statement in the context
of current folk music, folk music of the revivals, let alone the contents of themanuscripts. Alongside the problematic statement of oral transmission, there arefurther difficulties. For example, just as folk music is absorbed into a community andevolves so too can popular music. I find the reference to, “the unwritten living
tradition of a community”,140 (and to a certain extent the entire definition), to be
insufficient and outdated, perhaps even before it was written in 1954.
Orality/Aurality
Before continuing the chronological assessment of the manuscripts, it is important tosidestep and acknowledge the importance of the acceptance by many in the field thatorality/aurality was a defining characteristic of folk music. It was a strong belief,
observed throughout the decades and, as shown below, still in existence in some139

Maud Karpeles, An Introduction to English Folk Song, (London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 1987),
p. 3; Maud Karpeles, 'Definition of Folk Music', Journal of the International Folk Music Council, 7 (1955),
6-7 <http://www.jstor.org.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/stable/834518> [accessed 1 February 2017].
140
Karpeles, An Introduction to English Folk Song, p. 3.

41

quarters today. Definitions of folk music open to a current enthusiast (important, as itis here, discussed earlier, that a strong interest is generated in the manuscripts), stillcite orality as a key factor as a cursory glance at Wikipedia will show.141 It is apparent
in more reliable sources too. Karpeles observes two contemporary theories, theProduction (or perhaps Origin) theory and the Reception theory. While Reception
theory opens its boundaries to accept any “songs that have achieved a wide currency
among the people” as folk song, she is categorical in her belief that neither theories“give first importance to the one overriding factor on which the making, and thenature, of folk music depends. Folk music is essentially that which has been passed on
by…oral transmission”.142 Additionally, Vaughan Williams stated that “folk music is
entirely oral and is independent of writing or print...the folk tune persists by oral
tradition only...”143
The field of folk song and the wider discipline of history have now accepted that
textual influence was inescapable,144 but the lack of oral/aural reliance is only now
beginning to be examined within the field of instrumental tunes. Pendlebury, in 2015,
notes the “received wisdom [is] that folk music is transferred from person to person
without the use of written music”.145 Most recently, the programme for the‘Traditional Tunes and Popular Airs’ conference, held in October 2017, contains awelcome from the EFDSS Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Katy Spicer, in which
she comments on the tunes’ “strong aural tradition”.146 Of important note, andcontrary to Spicer’s view, it became clear listening to the conference papers thatacross the instrumental tune field there is an increasing awareness of the dependence
on print and textual sources. This not only corroborates my findings, but demonstrates

141

Wikipedia, 'Folk Music', Wikipedia (2017) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music> [accessed 14
October 2017].
142
Karpeles, An Introduction to English Folk Song, p. 2.
143
Ralph Vaughan Williams, National Music and Other Essays, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1986), pp. 28-33.
144
See for example:David Atkinson, 'Folk Songs in Print: Text and Tradition', Folk Music Journal, 8. 4
(2004), 456-83; Adam Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England 1500-1700, (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000).
145
Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes of Britain and Ireland',p. 32.
146
Spicer.

42

the current gap in research, and the need for the discourse in the tune field to draw
level with that of song scholarship.147
The issue of orality/aurality and the interaction between literate and oral/aural
practice is a wider part of the critical enquiry under examination and will be looked atin relation to the manuscripts within the thesis. Although the manuscripts are
inherently textual by their medium, the research also reveals a strong reliance on
direct textual sources. However, this does not mean the manuscripts were notsubjected to oral/aural influences.
1960s onwards
In the 1960s folk music historiography suffered by being drawn into contemporary
arguments which lost sight of telling the history of the music and its participants,
focussing instead on politics and accusation and further tangling the strands ofdefinition.148 Sharp and his contemporaries’ approaches and definitions were strongly
criticised by much of the mid-late-twentieth-century literature which blamed the firstrevival as elitist, guilty of hegemony, cultural appropriation and mediation.149 They
accused the folk song collectors of inventing a tradition, an idea which Pickering sees
accepted into academic discourse by 1990, observing that “the categories of folk songand folk culture are now increasingly understood as academic constructs externallyimposed on vernacular cultural processes and artefacts”.150 Many of the accusations
were indicative of wider movements, some based on Marxist principles, and reflected
147

This was evident in the papers given at the above mentioned conference such as: Niles Krieger, 'The
Gaylord Manuscripts: Untapped Resources from Early Nineteenth-Century New England', in Traditional
Tunes and Popular Airs: History and Transmission, (Cecil Sharp House, 2017); Alice Little, 'For the Sake ofDifference: John Malchair's Tune Comparisons, 1760-95', in Traditional Tunes and Popular Airs: History
and Transmission, (Cecil Sharp House, 2017); Elaine Bradtke, ''It's Got a Beat, You Can Dance to It': The
Reuse of Popular Tunes for Morris Dancing', in Traditional Tunes and Popular Airs: History andTransmission, (Cecil Sharp House, 2017).
148
A pivotal point in folk music scholarship (despite being a self-professed book “for beginners not
specialists”) was the publication of A. L. Lloyd’s Folk Song in England. Lloyd was instrumental in the‘second’ revival and his book is written from a strong political stance, with heavy socialist leanings.
Whilst openly critical of some of Sharp’s ideas he also shared some views and admired his actions.
Although I have engaged with, and reference Lloyd’s book throughout, I do not rely heavily on his ideas
and instead refer back to Sharp’s theories for the binary analysis of inherited versus modern notions offolk music tradition, (see below). This is in part because Lloyd is not especially forthcoming withconstructive, evidence-based, authoritative conclusions and because I was wary of the overtly subjective
political bias in the book, which arguably lessens the validity and strength of his argument. Lloyd, Folk
Song in England.
149
For example in the work of Harker, Fakesong : The Manufacture of British 'Folksong' 1700 to thePresent Day; Boyes, The Imagined Village : Culture, Ideology and the English Folk Revival.
150
Pickering, 'Recent Folk Music Scholarship in England: A Critique ', p. 38.

43

in other cultural disciplines at the same time.151 A definition between what wasperceived as oral/aural, rural folk music and newly composed urban, industrial folk
music was also being recognised. Folk music began to be defined in class terms, as “thecultural property of the ‘lower class’…the expression of otherwise-supressed classexperience in the new kind of social history – ‘history from below’”.152
The “Burden of Expectation”153
This brings the discussion full circle, back to the time when the manuscripts began tobe adopted into the field of contemporary folk music. As part of the central argumentin this thesis, it will be shown that many of the preconceived characteristics which areapplied to folk music now and throughout the twentieth-century are not present in the
manuscripts. Arguably, they become imposters in their field, fraudulent by association.
Whilst this might not seem to be a major problem, it categorically is, as themanuscripts begin to bear the weight of the ‘burden of expectation’. This is Roud’s
theory for the unrealistic expectation of folk song to tell a story which it does not andcannot tell, and he uses the term to account for to the Marxist backlash against theearly folk collectors.154 This theory is equally relevant in explaining the attitude to theunsubstantiated acceptance of the manuscript archive as representative of folk music
tradition. What results is an awkwardness, and a potential disregard, reflected in mysentiments on first receiving my great-great grandfather’s tunebook. The revelationthat the archive might actually represent Victorian ephemeral popular music is met
with connotations of inferiority, as if a connection to an ancient tradition is inherently
superior.
Roud sees a binary reaction to the burden, namely faking it, or turning away indisappointment,155 and both reactions are evident with reference to the manuscripts.
The manuscripts do not tell the expected story, so the contents are mediated, or
ignored so their truth is not exposed. Earlier I discussed the body of re-publishedmanuscripts and several show examples of problematic mediation. For example,
151

Wider applications of the concept whereby “’Traditions’ which appear or claim to be old are often
quite recent in origin and sometimes invented”, are central in Hobsbawn and Ranger’s book: Eric
Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, The Invention of Tradition, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1983), p. 1.
152
C. J. Bearman, 'English Folk Music Movement 1898-1914' (PhD diss., University of Hull, 2001), p. 7.
153
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 9.
154
Ibid.
155
Ibid.

44

Woolfe’s edition of William Winter’s nineteenth-century tune book omits several tunes
due to their popularity, familiarity or religious theme.156 Despite acknowledging theomissions, an authentic and complete representation of the compiler’s repertoire is
not given. Campbell identifies a similar practice by Bowen and Shepherd in theirreproduction of the tunes from Joshua Jackson’s manuscripts,157 suggesting this is“akin to Baring-Gould’s bowdlerisation of the folk song verse a century earlier”.158
Further examples are noted in the reproduction of the Leadley manuscript. Rightly,
Campbell argues that this and other reproductions, “do not purport to be rigorous
academic works, but they nonetheless contribute to a blinkered understanding of thevaried music”.159
The rejection of the manuscripts by subsequent musicologists could be seen as“turning away in disappointment”.160 I believe this stems from an ambiguity ofdefinition and a lack of awareness as opposed to a deliberate dismissal. This highlights
the impact of VMP in 1998, Folkopedia,161 other digital resources,162 and works such as
this thesis as being instrumental in creating awareness beyond the scope of keen,
amateur folk enthusiasts and bringing the manuscripts into wider critical debate. An
objective understanding of these primary sources cannot be carried out effectively
until the weight of the burden of expectation is lifted. The burden of expectation can
only be lifted once clear definitions are made.
Popular Music Culture
A primary observation put forward within this thesis and noted by Campbell andGammon, is the heterogeneous repertoire, relating to both stylistic features andorigin, which questions the inclusion of the archive within English folk music
tradition.163 The manuscripts are found to contain a dominance of contemporary
tunes and songs, often newly composed by a known composer and widely available
from commercial print. This music is neither an example of pure Western art music
156

Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book.
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 161.
158
Ibid. p. 375.
159
Ibid. p. 17.
160
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 9.
161
The Village Music Project, 'About'; Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List'.
162
For example : Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, 'Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Memorial
Library'; Folk Archive Resource North East, 'Welcome to Farne'.
163
This is discussed in depth in Chapter 3.
157

45

(although ‘popular’ arrangements of art music are included), nor representative of thesoon to emerge folk genre, embodying orality/aurality, tradition and anonymity ofcomposition. The homogenous printed source materials and the content within the
manuscripts would suggest that these musicians were not consciously playing a
mixture of folk (or ‘National’) tunes and more modern tunes. Instead they were simply
personally selecting tunes and songs of many genres and ages which were in popularcurrency at that time. Hence, the manuscripts prove themselves to be more broadly
and simply an aspect of nineteenth-century popular music making, in a vernacularmilieu.
They are perhaps more suited to the far-sighted title given by Chappell in 1859 as
repositories of ‘Popular Music of the [present and] Olden time’.164 Campbell too
appreciates the difficulty surrounding definitions, also embracing Chappell’s term.165
However, as with the term folk music, definitions are equally perilous regarding
popular music. Gelbart acknowledges the emergence of the term ‘popular’ in the midnineteenth-century.166 He describes the perception of popular music as an antonym tofolk or national music, “through which both folk and art could henceforth define
themselves by processes of exclusion”.167 While this ‘exclusion’ can be seen to be
applied by the early-twentieth-century folk music collectors, such an apparent
conscious distinction between folk (national), art and popular does not appear to beasserted by the publishers and consumers during the mid-late-nineteenth-century. As
this thesis demonstrates, the manuscripts’ homogenous sources of commercial printed
music consisted of National Songs, Country Dances, Popular Songs, Hornpipe
collections, Minstrel Songs, Operatic extracts co-existing together.
The sources and manuscripts would suggest that rather than viewing all three
categories of folk (national), art and popular as individual genres, they were part of awider popular genre which was wholly accessible, enjoyed and participated in acrossthe social or class boundaries. This places the evidence coming from the manuscripts
and their sources at a fascinating time – as the categories were emerging. However, it
164

Chappell, The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time.
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 23.
166
Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music” : Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner,
p. 10.
167
Ibid. pp. 9-10.
165

46

is not helpful when attempting to ascertain which label to ascribe to the archive.
Campbell refers to the music as popular, and recognises its absorption into folk andtraditional musical fields. Although he acknowledges the difficulties in the terms, andthe contrast between the perception of the repertoire differing from its actuality, I do
not find that he problematises this satisfactorily. Gammon too classes his body ofsource material as ‘popular’:The popular songs of the past are an interesting and exciting subject... I havelong been interested in songs that are variously labelled folk songs, traditional
songs, ballads, broadside ballads, street ballads, ballets, slip songs, psalms andhymns.168
Evidence from wider literature documents the “uncertain and variable”,169 relationshipbetween folk and popular music. Thus popular music, sometimes described as theantonym to folk music, sometimes as a descriptor for commercial, urban music,170 isreferred to in this thesis, to mean ‘‘widely favoured’ or well-liked’’.171 This aligns with
Russell’s approach which relates contextually to the same period, and does notdiscriminate according to origin, and is defined as “the music that was offered to,listened to and performed by the majority of the population”.172 Similar issues of
uncertainty surround the use of the word ‘culture’, with Williams describing it as “oneof the two or three most complicated words in the English language”.173 My definitionof ‘culture’ follows Williams’ reference to “a particular way of life”,174 which isdeveloped by the Oxford English Dictionary definition as, “a particular way of life orsocial environment characterized by or associated with the specified quality or thing; agroup of people subscribing or belonging to this”.175 This is more neatly defined by

168

Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, p. 1.
Raymond Williams, Keywords, (London: Fontana Press, 1988), p. 137. For much of the discussion
regarding the definition of ‘popular’, see:Richard Middleton, Voicing the Popular : On the Subjects ofPopular Music, (New York: New York : Routledge, 2006, 2006). Richard Middleton, Studying PopularMusic, (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1990); Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “ArtMusic” : Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner; Theresa Buckland, 'Definitions of Folk Dance:
Some Explorations', Folk Music Journal, 4. 4 (1983), 315-32; Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 1914. A Social History.
170
See for example Middleton, Studying Popular Music. Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “ArtMusic” : Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner, p. 10. Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in theModern World, p. 11. Roud, Folk Song in England.
171
Williams, Keywords, p. 236.
172
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 2.
173
Williams, Keywords, p. 87.
174
Ibid. p. 90.
175
Oxford English Dictionary, "Culture, N.", (Oxford University Press).
169

47

Gammon as, “a shared way of being in the world, a combination of attitudes, values,
assumptions and practices”.176
Despite being examples of nineteenth-century popular culture, and regardless of theirlabelling as either popular music or folk music, these primary sources ‘fall between thecracks’ of both popular and folk music disciplines in the scholarly world today.
Historical musicologists of both nineteenth-century popular music and in the broader
field of nineteenth-century English music, are seemingly unaware of them, or perhaps
observe them with caution, as fallacious fragments hanging on to an indefinable fieldof folk music. Yet much of their content, transmission methods and function would
situate them well in the wider field of nineteenth-century English music, and its
popular music subset, regardless of whether we may or may not consider them as folk
music or part of folk music tradition.
Process Not Origin‘Popular Music of the Olden Time’, was, for a substantial time, the working title of thisthesis. I was unable to satisfactorily tie in the emerging evidence from the manuscripts
with the disarrayed definitions of folk music tradition, especially when viewed fromthe perspective of received history. However, Roud’s Folk Song in England, wasinstrumental in providing a theoretical framework on which to base the evidence.
Roud does not shy away from challenging the issue of definition and brings the subject
to the forefront of current debate. He sets folk song in the wider concept of tradition
and builds on existing scholarship to arrive at a workable definition, or model for a folksong tradition. Although his model is not wholly transferrable to the field of
instrumental folk music,177 it goes considerably further than previous definitions in
helping decide if there is a place for this historic manuscript archive within folk music
tradition.
Atkinson writes that: “Tradition is actually continually altering to suit changed
circumstances and new ideological requirements”,178 and as such, is another term
which is also a notoriously complex one to determine, if indeed a definition is possible
176

Vic Gammon, 'The Past Is Not My Home', in British Forum for Ethnomusicology, (Aberdeen, 2004), (p.

3).
177

For reasons relating to the apparent textual inward and outward transmission which are discussed ingreat depth in Chapters 4 and 5.
178
Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 147.

48

at all.179 Handler and Linnekin consider tradition to “resemble[s] less an artificial
assemblage than a process of thought – an ongoing interpretation of the past”.180
Roud considers tradition, more specifically a folk tradition, also taking the form of aprocess.181 This idea can be seen to emerge in the 1970s in the work of Williams,182
continuing through the work of others such as Gammon,183 Green,184 Blacking,185
acknowledged by Karpeles,186 and explored in depth in 1984 by both the afore-quoted
Handler and Linnekin.187 More recently the concept was examined by Atkinson, whosummarised the change in the approach to the term, “as a shift away from tradition aslore to tradition as process”.188 However, as noted above, Kidson had introduced theconcept in relation to folk music in 1907,189 so arguably the shift has gone full circle
across a period of over one hundred years.
Developing the idea of tradition as a ‘process’, rather than defining by ‘origins’, Rouddescribes a folk song as, “the process through which the songs pass, in the brains andvoices of ordinary people, which stamps them as folk”.190 This raises a further awkward
term - that of ‘ordinary people’ which Roud qualifies as working class: “more or lessthe majority, the working classes, with the proviso that it often includes therespectable upper end of the worker spectrum such as shopkeepers and skilledworkers”, recognising and carefully qualifying his necessity to use a class based

179

Atkinson believes that, “tradition does not actually exist as such, it is an imposed category and noone seems to agree on how to impose it”. David Atkinson, Email Correspondence (8 February 2018).
180
Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin, 'Tradition, Genuine or Spurious', The Journal of American
Folklore, 97. 385 (1984), 273-90 (pp. 273-4).
181
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 22.
182
Williams, Keywords, p. 319.
183
Gammon, 'Michael Turner. A 19th Century Sussex Fiddler (Mt068)'.
184
Buckland, 'Definitions of Folk Dance: Some Explorations', p. 325.
185
Ibid. p. 329.
186
Karpeles, An Introduction to English Folk Song, pp. 2-3.
187
Handler and Linnekin, 'Tradition, Genuine or Spurious', pp. 273-4. Interestingly it was at this time thatthe aforementioned idea of ‘invented traditions’ was emerging, (see Hobsbawm and Ranger, The
Invention of Tradition. 1983), whereby tradition “comes into existence because of the fabrication ofcontinuity with the past…Folk songs become evocative symbols of the past, and they legitimize thetraditionality of a contemporary context by virtue of their symbolic value”. Bohlman, The Study of Folk
Music in the Modern World, p. 130.
188
Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 147. Although the notion of tradition being in flux can beseen in Lloyd’s work: “A folk song tradition is not a fixed and immutable affair”, (p66) I do not believe heis arguing from the perspective of defining folk song within a process of tradition, but instead adheres tothe concept of defining folk song by origin. Lloyd, Folk Song in England, pp. 15-17, 161.
189
Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', p. 82.
190
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 22.

49

framework.191 The demographic of the participants is the focus of Chapter 2, but it isimportant to clarify here that whilst this thesis observes that folk music tradition may
be more prevalent amongst the lower occupational classes of Victorian England, it
finds that it is not necessarily a product created by, belonging to nor the repertoire
exclusive to the lower classes resulting from a political class struggle. Roud argues that
it is through the involvement of ordinary people in the process that the melodies areultimately shaped into folk music. This idea was also seen in Kidson’s work over a
century earlier in which he talks of “the man in the street”, and melodies which“appealed to the masses of previous ages” and specifies a requirement to pass
“popular verdict...”.192
Using the idea of tradition as a process, Roud arrives at a definition of folk song:
Folk song is everyday vocal music within a community; it is learned andperformed in informal, untrained, face-to-face, voluntary, non-commercial
situations, sanctioned by community approval and custom; songs are passed onfrom person to person informally, the singers adhere to local norms and are
uninhibited by status or theory; singers are not constrained by adherence to aperceived original and correct rendition; songs themselves and performancestyles vary, but within the expected parameters of local usage.193
Furthermore, he asserts that orality/aurality is no longer inherent in the definition:
Two things are abundantly clear. Firstly, once printing had been invented, there
was never again a pure ‘oral’ tradition, but oral and print were intimatelyinterwoven’. Secondly, the songs that the ordinary people turned into
‘traditional’ or ‘folk’ songs were normally written by outsiders and reachedthem first in printed form.194
The origin of the song (be it ‘art’, minstrel, musichall or an older historic song), does
not define the song. Essentially, any song can become a folk song, “it is not the originof a song which makes it ‘folk’, but what the ‘folk’ do with it”.195 He further qualifies
this by suggesting time as a crucial component. Whilst folk songs do not need to beold, “they must have been around long enough to become part of this traditionaltransmission (two generations might be an acceptable rule of thumb)”.196 Although
191

Ibid. p. 27.
Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', pp. 82-83.
193
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 24.
194
Ibid. p. 443.
195
Ibid. p. 23.
196
Ibid. p. 25.
192

50

Roud’s ‘rule of thumb’ seems somewhat arbitrary, it can be traced to earlier
scholars.197 Despite being attributed to Erixon in 1951,198 the notion appears in
Kidson’s 1907 paper, The Vitality of Melody.199
Roud compares the traditional process which ‘turns’ a song into a folk song to a“sausage machine: put a pleasure-garden song into the tradition, and if it is not spatout as unsuitable, it emerges at the other end as a clearly different kind of song”.200
This is important when viewing the manuscripts as part of folk music tradition and thethesis will show the manuscripts to have a vital role in this ‘process’.201
Part of Folk Music Tradition?
The overriding critical approach in the thesis concerns the assessment of themanuscripts and the musical practice they represent, within notions of English folk
music tradition. However, as shown above, there is no one set of behaviours which
gives a clear and uncontentious description of folk music tradition. As such, my use of
the concept of English folk music tradition needs to be defined. I take a binary
approach to this. It is imperative to consider these manuscripts in the framework ofmodern scholarly discourse, and references made to English folk music tradition from acurrent perspective subscribe to the most recent writings on the topic, relying heavily
on Roud’s interpretations in his 2017 work on folk song.202 However, I also refer to theinherited or received notions of folk music tradition. Here I discuss characteristics
commonly recognised in an older, perhaps broadly referred to as ‘Sharpian’interpretation of the term. This received history, which is becoming outdated and may
be considered ill-informed in academic circles, is still prevalent in the domain in which
the manuscripts generate most interest.203 Therefore, although these ideas are not at
the forefront of current research, it is an important secondary approach from the197

Buckland discusses the idea with reference to Green and Erixon: Buckland, 'Definitions of Folk Dance:
Some Explorations'; Williams, Keywords. Handler and Linnekin discuss Shils’ 1981, “verifiable temporal
criteria: “it has to last over at least three generations…to be a tradition””. Handler and Linnekin,'Tradition, Genuine or Spurious', p. 274. This topic is discussed in depth in Chapter 4.
198
Buckland, 'Definitions of Folk Dance: Some Explorations', p. 327.
199
Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', p. 83.
200
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 671.
201
Subsequent references to tradition as a process will omit inverted commas.
202
Roud, Folk Song in England.
203
It is important to acknowledge that just because folk music enthusiasts may not be academics, not all
are ignorant of modern scholarly concepts and definitions of tradition and folk music. However, it is mybelief that a ‘Sharpian’ understanding of folk music and tradition still prevails amongst some enthusiasts
and non-specialists, see for example the above discussion regarding aurality/orality.

51

perspective of the manuscript archive. It is important to observe how and why themanuscripts are in their current place and why this causes the manuscripts to be put
under the ‘burden of expectation’ hindering the telling of their true story. An outline
for both interpretations has been given in the historiography above and specific detailis explored in relation to the explicit topics tackled in each chapter.
Why This Research Matters
It is important to address why I appear to take such a genre-centric approach andjustify why I discuss the relationship between the manuscript archive and English folk
music tradition. This is especially so, given that in accordance with modern academic
interdisciplinary approaches, the aim should be to break down barriers, not createboundaries.204 It remains true that the label ascribed to the musical practicerepresented by the manuscripts does not change the history of nineteenth-century
English music. However, in order to attempt to understand the musical practice, and toenable an impartial examination of the manuscript tune books, the meaning behindthe category definitions needs to be unravelled and the place of the manuscript
archive assessed in relation to these categories.
Although Campbell is right to highlight the diversity and complexity of the manuscripts,
his adversity to a ‘genre-centric’ approach is problematic. Such reactions arerecognised by Roud:
But in the folk world, there is not only an absence of agreement, but often afeeling in some quarters that there should be no agreement, as any attempt at
codification or drawing of boundaries is seen by many as antithetical to thesubject as against the spirit of the thing, and not quite nice.205
Yet, as noted earlier, Roud states that in order to draw conclusions, “we usually startby drawing boundaries”.206 Similarly, in the field of popular music studies, Middleton
states the importance of drawing distinctions: “otherwise important tensions andconflicts will pass unremarked”.207 In the same way, in order for the manuscript

204

Rachel Cowgill and Peter Holman, 'Introduction: Centres and Peripheries', in Music in the British
Provinces 1690-1914, ed. by Rachel Cowgill and Peter Holman (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), (p. 1).
Bennett Zon, 'General Editor's Series Preface', in Music and Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Britain,
ed. by Paul Rodmell (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), (p. xvii).
205
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 16.
206
Ibid. p. 15.
207
Middleton, Studying Popular Music, p. 6.

52

archive and the practice it represents to be understood and taken seriously in bothacademic and non-academic circles, the ‘burden of expectation’ needs to be lifted. The
material fact should not be skewed or mediated in an attempt to make themanuscripts tell a story which they do not and cannot tell.
Removing the burden will remove uncertainty and restrictions caused by ambiguity ofdefinition which will allow for an objective assessment of the contents and musicalpractice, opening the interdisciplinary interest wider. My research has an importantpart to play in providing an assessment of the manuscripts in folk music, popular music
and the social and cultural historical field. In attempting to align the scholarship ofvernacular instrumental music with that of song study, and applying similar criticalquestions, wider awareness can be brought to the archive and the manuscripts can beused to contribute to other areas of critical discourse. As discussed above, Russell
noted the lack of academic study of domestic instrumental tune practice,208 and it ishoped this thesis will go some way to address this gap.
By broaching the question of whether the archive is compatible with notions of folk
music tradition, the thesis relates to wider issues of the interaction of literacy andorality/aurality, particularly with regards to cautioning over the assumption of outward
transmission methods (Chapter 5). The research is crucial in revealing that evidence
utilised to inform current thinking on nineteenth-century literacy levels is, in factincredibly unstable (Chapter 4). Engaging with discourse in broader fields both insideand outside musicology ties in with the current move towards in “a broad, yet incisive,
cultural” approach.209 That my work has revealed the sheer dependence of thecompilers on commercial print, not only raising questions of musical literacy,
dissemination, access to resources and so on, adds much new knowledge to the field.
Additionally, I have identified a set of unrecognised or unstudied sources specific tothese ‘ordinary’ musicians,210 and also ‘re-discovered’ a now forgotten practice foracquiring sources.
The manuscripts can indicate the repertoire chosen, performed (or intended to belearnt) and therefore it is fair to assume, enjoyed by ordinary, nineteenth-century
208

Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 181.
Zon, 'General Editor's Series Preface'.
210
Chris Partington, Email Correspondence (27 January 2016).
209

53

musicians. In the folk song field, Gammon admitted to being “much more interested inwhat ordinary people actually sang than in what Cecil Sharp thought they ought tohave sung”.211 Ultimately, the manuscripts and my analysis enable a synchronic snapshot to be seen, of what was in common currency at the time: that which was actually
selected by the musicians, to play or learn, and provides a precious insight into thevernacular instrumental music practice of nineteenth-century England.
Research Questions
Centring on the ambiguity of definition which obfuscates the archive of instrumental
manuscript tunebooks, I set out to examine mid-late-nineteenth-century examples andtheir place in folk music tradition. Six main research questions examine this notion.
1. ‘Fiddlers’ Tunebooks’, considered as repositories of folk music, conjure up
images of rural, humble, village musicians. To what extent is this image
reflected by the manuscript compilers?
2. From where were the compilers acquiring the skills and resources to facilitatecreating a personal tune repository?
3. The eclectic mix of genres is noted by relevant scholars. Does the evidence
from my research validate a similar musicological content?
4. From where were the compilers sourcing the contents and what does this tell
us of the inward transmission into the manuscripts?
5. What can be revealed about the outward transmission, function (of thecompilers) and the wider soundscape of which these manuscripts were a part?
6. Can any conclusions be drawn regarding the function of the manuscripts asmusic repositories and the motivation of the compilers to create them?
Approaching the Archive
Before starting the research, I believed my approach would be ethnomusicological.
This was suggested by the perceived genre of source material, combined with thecontextual and sociological aspects I planned to examine. When researchingappropriate ethnomusicological methodologies, I found that the historical, non-humansources were not synonymous with that usually encountered by ethnomusicologists,
besides which, my informants were dead. I cast the methodological net wider,considering emerging disciplines such as ‘Music Archaeology’ which Arnd Bothdescribes as “the study of the phenomenon of past musical behaviours and sound”.212
211

Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, p. 8.
Arnd Adje Both, 'Music Archaeology: Some Methodological and Theoretical Considerations',
Yearbook for Traditional Music, 41 (2009), 1-11. Such a definition proposes that my research will fall into
212

54

Yate’s approach had strong references to archaeological methods,213 and a review of
Ann Buckley’s Hearing the Past: Essays in Historical Ethnomusicology and theArchaeology of Sound,214 enabled me to recognise that my approach could be as anarchaeologist trying to make sense of, and build a soundscape from the artefacts
available to me. Artefacts in addition to the manuscripts, such as newspaper reports,
public records, iconography and other archived material, which would help reconstructthis nineteenth-century musical practice.
An archaeological approach is in accordance with an explanation of a new perspectiveof ethnomusicology called ‘historical ethnomusicology’, whereby ethnomusicologists“excavate the past to illuminate the present life of a musical tradition”.215 Historicalethnomusicology might seem the perfect definition of my approach, yet my research is
not directly aiming to illuminate current English folk or popular music practice.
The more I investigated an appropriate methodology to match the dichotomy between
the genre of source material and the historical yet contextual approach, the more
entwined the methods became. When discussing popular song, Pickering and Greenacknowledge that, “there is no one model and no method which can be followed in theexercise of this discipline”,216 and I saw this to authenticate a multifaceted approach.
Likewise, Gammon lists a “heady brew”,217 of methodologies when defining his
approach to the study of rural, nineteenth-century Sussex musicians. He justifies his
approach by forestalling critics with the comment that “whatever the dangers of thejourney, if it provides insights, and an object for criticism and refinement, then it isworthwhile”.218

this category, however his methodological model would class my manuscript sources as ‘soundartefacts’, suggesting they are researched using the analytical processes derived from the disciplines of
acoustics, organology and archaeology, which is not how I have approached them.
213
Yates, 'Excavating Notes: The Archaeology of Canon Formation in Manx Music', pp. 67-73 Chapter 3.
214Fred Spier, 'Hearing the Past: Essays in Historical Ethnomusicology and the Archaeology of Sound(Review)', (2003), pp. 407-08.
215
Timothy Rice, Ethnomusicology : A Very Short Introduction, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014),
p. 91.
216
Tony Green and Michael Pickering, 'Preface', in Everyday Culture. Popular Song and the Vernacular
Milieu, ed. by Michael Pickering and Tony Green (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1987), (p. vii).
217
Gammon, 'Problems of Method in the Historical Study of Popular Music', p. 16.
218
Ibid.

55

In the last decade, we have seen a critical shift which approaches historical musicology
from contextual perspectives. Musicologists Holman and Cowgill,219 note “the 'cultural
turn' in musicology” which has shown “the rewards to be gained by adopting muchbroader frames of reference”.220 So too, Duckers and Pasler state that musicology“should be centred not just on music but also on musicians acting within a social andcultural environment”.221 In turn, it is vital that this approach is embraced whenstudying nineteenth-century vernacular instrumental tune manuscripts, and shows
Gammon’s aim “to relate text to context, musical practice to social practice”, overthirty years ago to have been ahead of its time.222 It is this contextual andinterdisciplinary approach which has proved the best fit for my research. Thus, I would
define my approach as that of a modern historical musicologist,223 looking beyond theboundaries of Western art music, and drawing on wider contextual approaches.
I have given an overview of the individual methodologies taken for each area below,
although more detailed information is specified in the individual chapters rather thandealt with in an autonomous Methodology chapter.224 Fundamentally, empiricalhistorical source studies provide the core methodology, and I take three case-study
manuscripts as primary sources and observe “the stories they might tell”.225 Thesestories are revealed by incorporating approaches used in a range of modernmusicological methods such as textual scholarship, archival research, musical analysis,
iconography, social and cultural analysis and quantitative methods.

219

Holman and Cowgill were writing in 2007 in the capacity as the Director and Deputy Director
respectively, of LUCEM, the Centre for English Music, at the University of Leeds.
220
Cowgill and Holman, 'Introduction: Centres and Peripheries', p. 1.
221
Vincent Duckles and Jann Pasler, 'Musicology, I. The Nature of Musicology 1. Definitions.', Grove
Music Online. Oxford Music Online, (2017), <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com> [accessed 20 April2017]. A multi-faceted contextual and cultural methodological approach within modern historicalmusicology is also justified in: Roberta Montevorre Marvin, 'Introduction: Scholarly Inquiry in HistoricalMusicology: Sources, Methods, Interpretations', in Historical Musicology. Sources, Methods,
Interpretations, ed. by Stephen A. Crist and Roberta Montevorre Marvin (Rochester, NY: University ofRochester Press, 2004), (p. 6). Yates, 'Excavating Notes: The Archaeology of Canon Formation in Manx
Music', p. 53; Zon, 'General Editor's Series Preface'; Cowgill and Holman, 'Introduction: Centres andPeripheries'. Middleton, Studying Popular Music, p. v.
222
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 5.
223
Glenn Stanley, 'Musicology, Ii. Disciplines of Musicology 1. Historical Method.', Grove Music Online.
Oxford Music Online, (2017), <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.> [accessed 20 April 2017].
224
The section below, entitled ‘Scope and Sources’ is an exception to this as I provide a detailed
explanation into my methodology behind the initial selection of the case-studies.
225
Marvin, 'Introduction: Scholarly Inquiry in Historical Musicology: Sources, Methods, Interpretations',
p. 7.

56

In Part 2 of Chapter 1, a codicological approach is taken, introducing the manuscripts
as artefacts. The methodological foundation for Chapter 2 centres on sources studies
and archival research and includes a graphological approach. Graphologists analyse
expressive values of different patterns of movement which are isolable such as slant,size, pressure, spacing and shapes. Psychological analysis is then applied to the findings
to ascribe or understand characteristic or personality traits.226 Observing musicaltranscriptions in addition to the handwriting of tune titles, I employ the initial elementof graphological methods, and carry out a visual comparative analysis, looking forspecific blends of notational style to ascertain scribal involvement and identity, rather
than to detect personality. In addition to the three case-studies, a survey of wider
samples is performed, and a statistical analysis carried out. Additional sources are
frequently consulted, including census returns, newspaper articles, birth, death andmarriage certificates, baptism and burial records, Post Office directories, family papers,
photograph albums, tithe maps, personal narratives, parish accounts and vestry
minutes.
The advantages of having access to online census records and searching facilities areclear, but census records themselves can result in a lack or inconsistency of
information. Problems encountered are numerous, such as mis-spelling, confusion
over familiar and official names, modesty and estimations regarding age and marital
status. Furthermore, a dislike and mistrust of data collection existed amongst somewhich resulted in the deliberate skewing of results, illustrated in the following
newspaper excerpt:
THE CENSUS, - The general census was taken on Monday last, and theenumerators, to whom this duty was entrusted, must have had no easy task,for, in addition to the trouble consequent upon it, they had to contend with thefears and prejudices of many who conjured up all kinds of evils as likely to arise
from this enquiry. Some who imagined that so rigid an investigation as to age
and number of individuals, under each roof, must contemplate an addition to
the Assessed Taxes, took the precaution of sending a few of their inmates out
to sleep, while others, entertaining a more charitable view of the matter, not
226

W Eliasberg, 'Methods in Graphology', Journal of Psychology, 17 (1944), 125-31; Ruth Rostron,'Graphology - Short Course', The British Institute of Graphologists (2014)<http://www.britishgraphology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Short-Course-sample-pages-.pdf>[accessed 4 February 2018]; Elaine Quigley, 'Graphology - Handwriting Analysis', Nina Markham (2013)<https://gdblogs.shu.ac.uk/b2030398/2013/11/04/more-on-handwriting-analysis/> [accessed 21
February 2018].

57

only very kindly supplied all the information desired but a great deal more thanthe Registrar either required or expected! As it was compulsory to furnish thenames of all who slept or abode in a house the previous night, it had anamusing effect, especially with the far and frail ones, some of whom, weunderstand, were under the necessity of noting down names that were notmeant for “open day or vulgar gaze!” The increase of the population in thisplace will be very considerable, for the number of inhabitants, huddled
together in the largest and humblest parishes, is incredible. As a proof of thiswe have only to mention that in one of the lodging houses alone, in St.
Thomas’s, there were no less than 37 strangers adjourning there.227
Likewise, oral narratives can give a biased or incorrect account, being subject to thevagaries of memory and conscious or sub-conscious mediation. As such historicalinvestigation is fraught with difficultly.
The analysis in Chapters 3 and 4, draws on quantifiable data taken directly from themanuscripts (such as key and time signatures), and research into each tunes’ history.
Origins of the tunes and their sources are examined using a variety of methods
including literature searches, accessing online tune resources and archival research
into historic printed and manuscript tunebooks, including an archival visit to the British
Library. Contextual information was sought from wider literature and contemporary
newspaper articles. Of significant methodological interest in Chapter 4 is the survey ofcurrent musicians to inform the comparison of transcription stylistics when copying or
when writing from memory. This survey was done in accordance with the University of
Sheffield’s ethics procedure.228
Chapter 5 uses the content genres found in the case-studies to inform potential
performance spaces which are developed using a combination of marginalia from themanuscript sources themselves, iconographic sources, newspaper articles andadvertisements, wider literature, oral narratives and family papers. A similar range ofsources is examined to inform Chapter 6, in addition to referring to works of fiction forcontextual and factual reasoning, Post Office directories, churchwardens’ accounts,
contemporary magazine publications and wider literature from the field of economic,
social and cultural history.

227'The Census', Oxford Journal 12 June 1841, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed
17 June 2016] p. 3.
228
University of Sheffield Ethics Approval Number: 013359.

58

Gammon notes that “the past is inescapable; its debris is all around us”,229 andexamining the remnants of music history by taking a historical musicological approachto the Fiddlers’ Tunebooks was important. Roud finds a historical approach is“important in order to investigate how our current attitudes developed”,230 and this isparticularly pertinent with regards to examining the place of the manuscripts intoday’s folk music tradition. It is only when the dust has settled, and we get to standstill and look back, that we can see with any clarity, how we got to the present.
Scope and Sources
Chronologically following on from Gammon’s work,231 this study concentrates on midlate-nineteenth-century manuscripts, drawing the evidence from three case-study
manuscripts from the South West of England dated 1860-c1880. It aims to build on andwiden the scope of work carried out by both amateurs and academics, bringing
scholarly focus and awareness to the manuscripts, and increasing the understanding of
mid-late-nineteenth-century English vernacular instrumental music and the writing of
its history.
To contain the scope, geographical parameters were required. Of the little researchdone on the manuscript archive, even less had been directed towards thosemanuscripts originating from the South West Midlands and South West of England. 232
In order to build on previous scholarship, and partly for logistical reasons this region
became the focus of the study.
With regards to date, the mid-late-nineteenth-century manuscripts appear to haveattracted even less attention than earlier manuscripts. Little research exists on theircontent, sources, motivation and context and this thesis attempts to re-address thisbalance. Gammon’s findings in the Turner manuscript make up one of the chief
research areas,233 hence selecting post-1850 manuscripts became a key factor.
The final selection of case-studies was made by compiling a master list of all known UK
nineteenth-century manuscripts based chiefly on the Folkopedia ‘Tune Manuscript229

Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, p. 4.
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 39.
231
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England'.
232
See the above section entitled ‘Existing Studies and the Wider Literature’ for details of the location ofother studies.
233
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England'.
230

59

List’,234 sorted into dates and location.235 This list was sorted into nineteenth-century
English manuscripts,236 and then sorted to include only post-1849 English manuscripts,
which totalled only twenty-eight tunebooks. On face value this suggests a dramatic
decrease in the number of manuscripts compiled from 1850 onwards, but this is notnecessarily so, since only those known to have been compiled post-1849 have been
included. Those whose compilation date cannot be narrowed down beyond thegeneric nineteenth-century were not included.237
This list was further reduced to include only southern English manuscripts,238 leaving
only eleven manuscripts remaining.239 From this list, two have already been
extensively examined,240 a further two had either their current or original location
unknown,241 resulting in seven potential case-studies. From this list I selected the final
three case-studies shown in Figure 1. The Hampton manuscript,242 was selected for
personal reasons as it belonged to my great-great grandfather and was previously
unknown outside the family; the Till/Clutterbuck manuscript,243 for access andlogistical reasons; and the Bennett manuscript,244 as it has not been studied nor indeed
seen in England since 1874. Furthermore, the three manuscripts’ probable dates spana narrow period of approximately twenty years, giving a good comparative base.

234

Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List'. Those manuscripts which originated in the
United Kingdom but are currently known to be abroad were included whereas those thought tooriginate and remain abroad have been omitted. Hampton MS has been added to the list.
235
This amounted to a total of 228 manuscripts.
236This amounted to a total of 131 manuscripts.
237
The ‘Andrews’ manuscript was removed at this level as the original no longer exists and what remains
is a transcription of selected tunes by Baring Gould, highlighting the earlier issues raised regarding theneed for a wider survey and categorisation of all extant manuscripts.
238
The area denoted as ‘Southern’ is crudely defined by drawing a line across central England fromapproximately Norfolk to Shrewsbury.
239
See Appendix C, ‘Master List ’.
240
Namely the Turner MS and the Winter MS: Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Musicin Southern England'; Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book.
241
Namely ‘Anon west mids?’, and ‘Julian’.
242
Thomas Hampton, Music Manuscript Book (Dances for Violin), (Dellow Personal Collection, c1870).
243
George Clutterbuck/Till, Music Manuscript Book, D4190/30 (D4190\3\4) (Gloucestershire Archives,
1866).
244
George Wilkins Bennett, Music Manuscript Book, (Ontario: Huronia Museum, 1860).

60

MS Name

Location

HamptonHereford,
Herefordshire
Till/Clutterbuck Stone, Gloucestershire
Bennett
Chedzoy, Somerset

Compiler

Date

Thomas Hampton (and Walter
Soobroy)
George Till/Clutterbuck
George Wilkins Bennett

c1870
1866
1860

Figure 1: The final selection of case-study manuscripts.

The three case-study manuscripts are referenced in the footnotes here and in the
bibliography but subsequent footnote references throughout the thesis will not bemade and they will be referred to as Hampton MS, Till/Clutterbuck MS and Bennett MS
respectively.
Figure 2 shows the geographical distribution of the manuscripts:245

Figure 2: Map showing the locations of the selected case-study manuscripts. (Source: Google maps).

It is important to remember that the surviving sources may be a-typical and unrepresentative of the original range of sources for the very reason that they survived.
In Medieval music studies, Hohler attributes the existence of three medieval dancetunes in Harley 978 MS, to the very fact that they are unusual.246 He proposes that the
miscellaneous collection within the manuscript might advocate its purpose as a
didactic text; therefore, these pieces could be included to demonstrate somethingunique, or new, in the genre of instrumental music. In the same way, the mostcommon or popular tunes known to nineteenth-century amateur instrumentalists
might not be included in the manuscripts as they were committed to memory and so
245

My research is not centring on comparative regionality; hence the exact location is not imperative,
but is useful to put manageable constraints on the project. The map was created using Google Maps,'Manuscript Locations', Google Maps (2017) <https://www.google.co.uk/maps> [accessed 17 March2017].
246
Christopher Hohler, 'Reflections on Some Manuscripts Containing 13th-Century Polyphony', Journalof the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music Society, 1 (1978), 2-38.

61

well known, being in constant use and the compilers were only transcribing the rarer
or newer tunes that they intended to learn. Similarly, the surviving tunebooks might
have belonged to meticulous or particularly forgetful fiddlers who ensured
preservation of their books or those for whom professional record keeping was a
priority. Having sampled a number of other manuscripts and considered the repertoire
selected for inclusion in modern amateur musicians’ collections, I do not believe themanuscripts in this study to be a-typical compared to other manuscripts, or that themanuscripts as a whole represent exclusively unusual tunes.
Once selected, the original manuscripts were accessed where possible. Personallyviewing these primary source documents is important as it enables easier examination(looking for watermarks, determining condition and quality of paper etc.). Herbert and
McCollum discuss the important “distinction between the historical artifact and thedigitized representation that ‘appears’ to be the artifact”.247 Furthermore, accessing
the original manuscript helps form a tangible connection, providing empathy with theoriginal compiler and the music within.248 That said, Bennett MS from Somerset, now
resides in the Huronia Museum, Ontario, Canada, and in this case, digital images weretaken and emailed by Genevieve Carter, Curator at the museum. The difference in thedetail of codicological examination which can be achieved when viewing the original
artefact can be seen here in comparison to the other case studies.
Where original manuscripts were viewed, digital images were taken. These werestored electronically, and hard copies printed. Data extracted from the content wasentered into a database. Each tune was given a reference number which is the method
used to refer to the tunes throughout the thesis (in an italicised form) and theappendices. The reference comprises a three-part nomenclature, for example
Ham.3.2. The first part is made up using the initial three letters of the manuscript(Ham, Til, and Ben), the second refers to the page number and the third denotes the247

Jonathan McCollum and David G. Hebert, Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology,(Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2014), p. 48.
248
The Library of Congress (LOC) identifies that working with primary sources provides “a window into
the past—unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought andachievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period”,
and that when used with students it helps them to engage with the past in a personal way, promoting “adeeper understanding of history as a series of human events”. Library of Congress, 'Why Use Primary
Sources?', Library of Congress (No date)<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/whyuse.html > [accessed 5 February 2015].

62

item number on that page. For example, the tune identified by Ham.3.2 can be foundin Hampton MS, page 3, item 2 (namely ‘The Wedding Galop’).249 A summary of thedatabase entry for each tune was recorded on a spreadsheet, Appendix B.
Structure of Thesis
In order to approach the question of the manuscripts’ place in notions of folk music
tradition, I compartmentalised elements of the manuscript sources. Taking the leadfrom Dean-Smith in her approach to Playford, I examined their “place, and that of its
creator[s]…to show how long-lasting are these English melodies and how wide anddeep their roots”.250 More simply, in order to ascertain their place, I needed to ask
who compiled them, what they contained, from where they sourced the material andwhy they were compiling. This led to further important enquiry into how they obtained
the resources and skill in order to compile. Despite preparing our work at the sametime, my approach can be seen to reflect that taken by Roud in the folk song field.251
This chapter comprises two sections. In Part 1, the foundations were surveyed andafter observing previous approaches to the manuscripts and vernacular instrumental
tunes in general, I examined the current unstable position of the manuscripts and thedangers this provokes. By assessing past and current attitudes to definitions of folk
music and tradition I provided a solid framework in which to place the discussion.
Methodology and selection of sources were then discussed. Part 2 introduces thethree case-study manuscripts, providing a codicological analysis of the case-study
manuscripts as artefacts.
Chapter 2 considers the creators of the manuscripts, providing a detailed biographicalexamination of the three manuscript compilers. This is followed by an analysis of awider sample of manuscript compilers to create a better representative profile. Key
demographic trends emerge which are addressed in turn, considering how these
specific traits promote manuscript production. The findings raise vital questions
concerning the practice of acquiring and accessing sources, both logistically and withregards to capability, dealt with in Chapter 6. The larger question surrounding folk

249

See Appendix A.
Dean-Smith, Playford's English Dancing Master 1651. A Facsimile Reprint with an Introduction,
Bibliography and Notes, p. xx.
251
Roud, Folk Song in England, pp. 4, 40, 669.
250

63

music tradition is explored with strong similarities found surrounding both received
and modern ideas of the ‘folk’. Some variance does exist however, which I propose
could result from a conscious or sub-conscious reaction to the ‘burden of expectation’.
Chapter 3 adopts Dean-Smith’s approach to ascertain “how wide and deep theirroots”.252 Using the data from the detailed analysis which informed Appendix A, theprovenance and breadth of content is observed, and an objective assessment of thetypes of tunes selected by the compilers becomes apparent. This reveals that, in
reality, the manuscripts contain a wide range of dance and song types. Despite a clear
dominance of contemporary material, historic tunes were also found. Whilst current
thought has been shown to be inclusive with regards to eclectic and contemporary
content, the results show the content does not fit with perceived notions which havebeen transferred via received history. Thus, it is possible to see how a dichotomy arose
between the anticipated repertoire and the actual content, giving rise to the ‘burdenof expectation’ discussed above. Furthermore, the concept of process and its role in
the formation of tradition is explored, and consequently asks whether the manuscripts
can be considered as part of English folk music tradition. Despite the contemporary
tunes in the manuscripts providing a fascinating insight into the process at work, thehistoric tunes are found to be more problematic, developed in Chapter 4.
Chapter 4 reveals that those tunes written in the manuscripts were, in the main,
copied from printed sources. In turn, this brings an investigation into the practice ofacquiring the tunes, discovering the sources from which they copied. This uncovers
that most tunes, including those which appear to have more historic roots, weresourced from a narrow range of contemporary printed material, aimed specifically at
the amateur monophonic instrumental market. On the surface this could be argued torefute claims that orality/aurality was a significant factor with regards to direct inward
transmission. Such a view goes against the perceived notions regarding the importanceof orality/aurality in folk music still held by some.
Such a revelation could move the archive more towards general popular music practicethan being part of a more specific folk music tradition. However, current song252

Dean-Smith, Playford's English Dancing Master 1651. A Facsimile Reprint with an Introduction,
Bibliography and Notes, p. xx.

64

scholarship and similar recent findings in the tune field clearly discount the actuality
and importance of orality/aurality in folk music tradition. Furthermore, the reliance on
textual sources raises questions of the stability of the notion of tradition, when viewed
in manuscript form. The fact that the tunes are selected by publishers rather than the‘folk’ and may not have survived but could have ‘skipped’ generations, constituting a
potential revival as opposed to a continuation of a process of tradition is also explored.
A revelation regarding literacy and the compilers’ marriage certificate signatures
demonstrates the need to guard against assumptions and acknowledge that unwrittensocial and cultural practices may not have passed down in historical record.
Chapter 5 contextualises the range of genres to assess outward transmission andfunction of the manuscripts. Although no direct evidence of specific musical functions
within the case-studies is observed, wider observations of the soundscape suggest thatthe music was being used for informal participation. This chapter further highlights thecaution needed regarding expectations of literacy and the subtle interactions of textual
and oral/aural practices.
Turning the focus to the rich source material revealed in Chapter 4 juxtaposed with
Chapter 2’s disclosure of the compilers’ demographic, Chapter 6, Part 1, considers both
economic and environmental factors which limit or enable the compilers’ access tosources and resources. Following an investigation into the sale of sheet music, withspecific focus on the case-study compilers, evidence is presented to suggest the men
acquired their sources via borrowing as opposed to purchasing. The interdisciplinary
value of this chapter emerges through the revelation that historically popular, but now
little-known establishments, Musical Circulating Libraries (MCLs), enabled thecompilers to acquire their source material. Part 2 of Chapter 6 combines the revelationof the compiler demographic and reliance on textual sources to explore how the lower
strata of society were capable of seemingly high levels of literacy. Potential routes toliteracy are examined and the general and musical literacy and skill levels of the casestudy compilers are assessed. An interesting binary division of routes between ruraland traditional compared to urban and modern manuscripts develops.
The final chapter draws together the evidence and analysis and examines further key
points which have emerged, particularly regarding the importance of the manuscripts65

as a primary resource and the role they can play in future research. Originalcontribution to the musicological field is noted, as are the limitations and flaws
encountered throughout the research. The chapter and thesis conclude with a
discussion around areas of study which could build on the work carried out in thethesis.

Conclusion to Part 1
Part 1 of this chapter has laid the foundations for the subsequent investigative study inwhich I hope to reduce the ambiguity of definition by exploring the manuscripts’ placein English folk music tradition. I have given an introduction to the field, laid out theaims of this thesis, acknowledged problematic terms and reviewed existing literature. I
have considered the question of how and why the manuscripts are found in thecurrent field of folk music and identified characteristics which question theirplacement here. I have set out the research questions and thesis structure and haveconcluded Part 1 by detailing the overall methodology used to approach the research.

Part 2 – Introduction to the Case-Study Manuscripts
Having introduced the thesis and field of study above, in Part 2 of this chapter I start
the exploration into the key sources for the research, introducing each case-study
manuscript in turn, from a codicological perspective.
Hampton MS c1870-1880s
Unnamed and undated, this is the most recent case-study tunebook and was given to
me by my grandfather, Charles Hampton (1913 – 1999), in 1990 along with a collectionof printed music.253 Charles informed me that the manuscript had belonged to andbeen compiled by my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Hampton (1844-1896).254 Aftermy grandfather’s death in 1999 I also inherited Thomas’ violin, two nineteenth-century
wooden fifes and tin whistles, and additional items of printed music belonging toThomas’ son, my great-grandfather, Andrew Hampton.

253

See full list and references below. I have dated the manuscript using the contents as a guide and thepossiblilty remains that the manuscript was commenced before or after my proposed date of c1870s.
254'Thomas Hampton', Baptism Record for Thomas Hampton, 30 March 1844 (Gloucestershire Archives;
Gloucester, England; Gdr/V1/410) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 20 April 2017].

66

The book, the largest of my selected sources, measures 315mm by 245mm.255 The
cover is made of folded heavy-weight paper and exhibits an uneven fibrous texture
bearing similarities to handmade paper. It is brown in colour and slightly specked withblack fibres. The book has clearly been conceived as a complete entity as themanuscript pages have been stitched together and into the cover before it was folded,
suggesting the book existed as a whole, rather than being added to throughout time.
The stitching visible on the inside front cover (Figure 3), suggests the book was homebound.

Figure 3: Stitching on the inside cover turn-ins of Hampton MS.

Internally, the book is constructed from four bifolium sheets, creating a single
gathering consisting of eight leaves resulting in sixteen individual folios. The bifolium
appear to be large pre-lined purchased music manuscript sheets comprising twelve
staves and a blank border around each folio edge and have been stitched together in a
rudimentary way. Although now largely detached, evidence exists to show the pages
were bifolium and originally conjoint as the central bifolium is still partially attached.
The majority of the bifolium pages have become detached and there is extensive
scuffing and tearing to the outside edges of each leaf. The book is now in a relatively
fragile state but remains legible and usable to an extent.

255

Research into manuscript paper sizes shows that the size of Hampton’s manuscript sheets (doubled
width as the paper was bifolium), do not tally with the paper sizes given in Tomlinson's Cyclopedia ofUseful Arts: Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopedia of Useful Arts (London: Virtue, 1854)<https://ia600208.us.archive.org/35/items/cyclopdiaofuse02tomlrich/cyclopdiaofuse02tomlrich.pdf >[Accessed 20 April 2017]. Page 369 lists a ‘short demy for music’, measuring 20 ½” x 14” which does notmatch the 19 ¼” (bifolium size) x 12 ½” of Hampton’s manuscript paper. I have found advertisements for‘Universal Music Paper’, ‘Acme Music Books (music size)’ and ‘Music Paper’, but with no actual sizing
given. However, the ‘Guernsey Packet of Manuscript Music Paper’, is listed as having eighteen sheets oftwelve staves (priced at one shilling), which is the same number of staves as Hampton. 'Advertisementfor Hartwell's Music Warehouse', The Star : Guernsey, 17 November 1883,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> p. 5.

67

A neatly inscribed ink title on the front cover reads: Dances For violin (Figure 4), and an
illegible inscription exists on the top right hand corner of the cover and a further
illegible stamped mark on the bottom right-hand front cover.

Figure 4 : Front cover of Hampton MS.

The book contains fifty-seven items, comprising a thorough mix of repertoire, spanning
contemporary popular songs and dance tunes, older tunes and some Nonconformist
hymns, and is the work of two chief scribes, with one further tune written by a ‘guest’
scribe.256
The main ink colour is black, the density of which varies throughout, although initially
red ink is used for titles, clefs and composers’ names. Evidence from the first scribe’s
writing suggests that he was using a dip pen rather than a fountain pen. Figure 5 showsthat under magnification the red ink used for clef, time and key signatures merges withthe black ink as if the nib was not quite clean:Figure 5 : Ham.1.1.

256

See Ham.11.3

68

Where he starts line three without coloured ink, this colour contamination is not
visible. It is also possible to observe by looking at ink density that he wrote note-heads,
stems and beaming in one movement. Figure 6 shows ink fading towards the end of
the bar suggesting he has written the first four notes (note-heads, stems andbeaming), followed by the subsequent set of four quavers, only to be refreshed anddark again in the next bar.

Figure 6 : Ham.3.1, bar 2.

The second scribe frequently appears to write in the same fashion although sometimes
demonstrates a different writing style in which he appears to draw the note heads ofthe bar or group first and then goes back to complete beaming and stems as these are
more faded (see Figure 7).

Figure 7 : Ham.5.1, bars 6-7.

Throughout the book the ink density becomes more consistent possibly indicating thatthe second scribe had access to a fountain pen towards the end of the book, rather
than a dipping pen. Fountain pens were being mass produced by the 1880s, 257 whichmight indicate a gap in the period of time from the earlier items in the book,suggesting the book was compiled over a period of ten years.
The manuscript is solely a repository for music with no marginalia. This could
demonstrate a respect for the book or a lack of confidence in general ‘freehand’257

Griselda Pollock, 'Sarah Kofman's Father's Pen and Bracha Ettinger's Mother's Spoon', in Objects andMaterials : A Routledge Companion, ed. by Penny Harvey, et al. (Oxon: Routledge, 2014), (p. 167).

69

literacy skills.258 The cover has staining to the front and back, suggesting it was wellused and not considered as overly precious, and the leaves show staining at thebottom and sides where they have been turned by frequent use, possibly with soiled
hands.
The printed collection which accompanied the manuscript is important as it constitutes
part of the discussion in subsequent chapters. This printed collection is made up of ared stiff board cover with adhesive inserts which hold each of the pages of four
different books, namely:
1. Boosey’s Hundred Reels, Country & Other Dances for the violin.259
2. Hopwood & Crew’s Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &c. Edited andexpressly Arranged for the violin by Robert Coote, Book 2.260
3. One Hundred Dances for the Violin (Boosey’s 100 Dances).261
4. Hopwood & Crew’s Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &c. Edited andexpressly Arranged for the violin by Robert Coote, Book 4,262 (with Walter
Soobroy’s inscription on the front, see below).
All are undated and The British Library (BL), do not hold copies, although they have aflute version of the third item, which they date to 1859,263 and books 5, 6 and 8 of
Hopwood & Crew’s Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &c., which BL date between
1870 and 1887.264 Thus we could presume dates for Hampton’s copies around the1860s and 1870s.
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866
The Till/Clutterbuck manuscript (Figure 8) is held at the Gloucestershire Archives
deposited with papers belonging to Miss V Smith.265 The book contains both sacredand secular music, starting at opposite ends, inverted and meeting in the middle.
258

For example, in writing words which were not copied.
Boosey, Boosey's Hundred Reels, Country & Other Dances. For the Violin, (Boosey, c1859).
260
Robert Coote, Hopwood & Crew's Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &C. Edited and Expressly
Arranged for the Violin Book 2, (Hopwood & Crew, c1860s).
261
Boosey, One Hundred Dances for the Violin, (Boosey, c1859).
262
Robert Coote, Hopwood & Crew's Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &C. Edited and Expressly
Arranged for the Violin Book 4, (Hopwood & Crew, c1860s).
263
British Library Catalogue, 'Boosey's One Hundred Dances for the Flute, Arranged by H. S. Pratten.
Boosey & Co. [London], [1859.]', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk/> [accessed 30 April2015].
264
British Library Catalogue, 'Hopwood & Crew's ... Quadrilles, Waltzes, Galops, Polkas, Etc., for theViolin. Arranged ... By R. Coote. [Bk. 5, 6 and 8 by C. Minasi.]', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 17 April 2015].
265
Gloucestershire Archives, Smith and Clutterbuck Families of Old Court Farm, Stone, D4190 (c.18001975). With thanks to Paul Burgess for assisting in locating the manuscript in the archive catalogue.
259

70‘George Till, Stone, 1866’ is transcribed on the front inside cover, and on the backinside cover, ‘George Clutterbuck HG?, Stone, Nr Falfield, RSG’, perhaps standing for
Royal South Gloucestershire.266 An additional manuscript book was donated with thepapers, made up exclusively of religious music and signed John Collings.
The tunes from the manuscript have been transcribed as part of the GlosTrad
project,267 and have been published by Charles Menteith and Paul Burgess as part of
The Coleford Jig.268

Figure 8 : Front and back cover of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

The book is smaller than Hampton MS, more alike other music manuscript books fromthis period and measures 23cm by 9cm with a depth of 3.9cm including covers. The
cover is made from hard dark brown boards, held together with two thick string
stitches, with evidence of a marble paper cover on top. Figure 9 shows the remains of
the marble cover on the inside end cover:Figure 9 : The remains of the marbled paper covering on Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Internally, the book is constructed from seven gatherings sewn together with fourthinner thread stitches (Figure 10). Each gathering comprises three bifolium sheets,
266

The title ‘Royal’ was added to the local militia name (South Gloucestershire) in 1795 by King George
III and was perhaps reflected in general references to the county: David Viner, ''A Moth-Eaten Rag’:
Regimental Colours in Cirencester Parish Church', Gloucestershire History, 25 (2011), 8-28 (p. 19)<http://www.gloshistory.org.uk/reprints/gh201118.pdf> [accessed 21 April 2017].
267
GlosTrad, 'Home'.
268
Charles Menteith and Paul Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, 4th edn,
(Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 2014).

71

creating six leaves of twelve sides. The fifth group has two leaves removed resulting ina total of forty pages in the manuscript. The book has been conceived as a whole,rather than the gatherings being added as no distinction exists between genre and ink
for example between each gathering.

Figure 10 : The gatherings of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

The internal pages consist of pre-lined purchased music manuscript sheets althoughwith some irregularity in both density and shaping. The bottom stave lines in Figure 11
show two ends matching and one differing, suggestive of being cut from larger preprinted manuscript sheets.

Figure 11 : Non-uniform stave endings in Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Each manuscript page consists of four stave lines with a blank border around eachedge. The paper is of good quality, absent of watermarks unlike the thicker,
watermarked manuscript paper found in the accompanying sacred manuscript
inscribed by John Collings.
The book includes fifty-six secular items,269 comprising a mixed repertoire of song anddance tunes. The specific provenance, ownership and number of scribes of themanuscript is not straight-forward and is explored in Chapter 2. The notation is269

I have omitted an initial page of chordal jottings.

72

predominantly written in black ink with occasional uses of blue ink and pencil. Til.20.1
has evidence of issues with ink flow and I would surmise that a dipping pen was usedrather than fountain due to the age of the manuscript and the fading and density of
the ink through a stroke.
Despite the severely damaged outer marbled paper and ripped endpapers the internal
condition of the manuscript is fair, and although appearing well used with water
staining and soiling at the edge of pages, it remains usable and legible with pages
remaining intact. There is no marginalia, although the signature on the front endpaper
has been copied in pencil.
Bennett MS 1860
The earliest of the three case studies was written by George Wilkins Bennett, ablacksmith from Chedzoy in Somerset (Figure 12). It is dated 1860 and now resides inthe Huronia Museum, Ontario, Canada. It was donated in 1991 by Hilda Bennett, aged
ninety-one, George Wilkins Bennett’s granddaughter.270 No information regarding the
donation was recorded at the time.271 In line with Till/Clutterbuck MS, this manuscript
contains both sacred and secular, although running successively rather than being
inverted and meeting in the middle.

Figure 12 : Front and back Cover of Bennett MS.

Due to the manuscript’s location the physical description is as described by museum
curator, Genevieve Carter:
The book measures 23.5 x 14.5 x 2 cm, which includes the heavy cardboard
covers. The covers have been covered in a paper which is shiney [sic] on the
270
271

Genevieve Carter, Email Correspondence (2 March 2015).
Genevieve Carter, Email Correspondence (19 May 2015).

73

outward-facing side. It almost looks oiled, but the reverse side is matte, and notoily-looking at all. I am not sure if there is a technical name for that sort offinish. It is of a different composition than the papers on which the music has
been written. Those are heavier than modern printer paper, but not quite as
heavy as card-stock. It seems to be of a better quality than papers used in otherprinted material from that period (I have compared it to school textbooks andBibles in the museum's collection). I have attached 2 photos of the book in
profile - you can see that the covering paper is beginning to separate from thefront cover. You can also see that the edges of the paper have been marbled.272
Further observation of the digital copies reveals that although the paper was heavy, it
did not prevent bleed through of ink as there are numerous examples of this,particularly when the darkest black ink was used.
The photographs also reveal that the book is constructed of bifolium gatherings of ten
individual quires, although it is difficult to ascertain the number of bifolium per
gathering as many have pages removed (Figure 13). Whether the removal was
deliberate is impossible to tell, certainly there is evidence of accidental detachment insome cases such as the final hymn tunes (Ben.20.1 and Ben.20.2) which would be
expected to run across onto the following page yet clearly have their second page
missing with subsequent pages either blank or missing, the manuscript continuing on
page 25.

Figure 13 : Gatherings of Bennett MS.

The attachment of the binding is difficult to see via photographic evidence although
Figure 14 provides evidence of the internal stitching holding the quires together.

272

Ibid.

74

Figure 14 : Ben.47.1, showing the internal stitching.

Each page consists of eight staves surrounded by a border. Due to the cropped
photographs it is difficult to ascertain if the bottom border is a constant height or if themanuscript paper has been cut. The staves show some inconsistencies perhaps
suggesting self-drawing using a rastrum (the ink looks darker at the end of a stave andthere are slight variations at stave endings), however this could be the result of a preprinted manuscript sheet as many of the inconsistencies are repeated over the pages. I
would proffer that the book was purchased as an entire music manuscript book rather
than being constructed at home.
Two chief scribes can be identified throughout the book with the addition of perhaps
two occasional ones. The notation is inked directly in black or blue/black ink
throughout the entire manuscript with no discernible pattern or link to a specificscribe.273 The blue/black ink is interesting as it clearly demonstrates the manner inwhich the scribe wrote the notes. For example, the final two quavers shown in Figure
15 appear to have been written in the order of note-heads first, followed by adownward stroke of the right-hand stem, beam and then an upward stroke back to thefirst note-head:

Figure 15 : Ben.44.2, demonstrating the transcription style.

273

There are two unfinished tunes in pencil: Ben.81.1 and Ben.55.1.

75

The overall condition appears good, although some pages have become detached. The
pages are yellowing with some quite heavy staining and scuffing at the page edges andevidence of spillages,274 suggesting the book was well used. That said, for a bookdating back nearly one hundred and sixty years, the condition is remarkable, especiallythe fragile looking, intricate exterior boards, and minimal marginalia, suggesting much
respect, care and importance was bestowed upon the book.
The manuscript contains seventy-seven secular items, and along with the sacred items
the contents suggest use in a West Gallery church band and for accompanying dancing(both social and exhibition) or for town festivity performances. With regards to dates,
the secular tunes are generally consistent with the dating ranging between 1860-64
and hence compilation in England and not post-1874 following emigration. However,
two tunes, Ben.40.1 (published 1880), and Ben.74.2 (published 1897), have additional
attributes which suggest they have been added at a later date.

Conclusion
The three manuscripts examined in Part 2 of this chapter form the central body ofevidence for the thesis. Whereas much of the subsequent investigation is of abiographical, musicological, cultural or social nature, this section has introduced andconsidered the three case-study manuscripts as historical artefacts. As a whole, thischapter has provided an introduction to the archive, current and past discourse andshown how this research aims to fit into and contribute knowledge to the field. Our
understanding of nineteenth-century English music, its historiography, its audienceand participants will remain incomplete until more studies, such as this, areundertaken. Furthermore, I believe that until the ‘burden of expectation’ is lifted fromthis archive, the manuscripts will continue to suffer from an ambiguity of definition,and the associated consequences. In order to move forward, definitions need to be
tackled. By asking where the manuscripts fit in notions of folk music tradition, thisresearch aims to investigate and broach such issues, leading the discussion forward to
establish a place in which the Fiddlers’ Tunebooks can fit, to enable a wider and moreobjective treatment.

274

For example, Ben.114.1.

76

Chapter 2- ‘Who Were the Folk? The Demography of the Manuscript
Compilers’ 275
Chapter 1 established that the term ‘folk’ was not in common parlance in the mid-latenineteenth century and the musicians pertaining to this amateur, monophonicinstrumental practice did not consider themselves, nor were considered
contemporaneously as folk musicians. Antithetically, the enthusiasm generated by themanuscripts in current contemporary English traditional or folk music was highlighted
and rightly or not, the manuscripts are often considered as repositories of folk music.
While modern discourse embraces an inclusive attitude to the ‘folk’,276 received
history has conjured up an image of rural, humble village musicians.277 In this chapter I
set out to ask, ‘Who were the folk?’ echoing the question posed by C J Bearman in his
seminal analysis of Cecil Sharp’s Somerset singers,278 by examining the compilers ofnineteenth-century manuscript tunebooks, drawing out key demographic traits andconsidering how those qualities contribute to a manuscript culture. Given the
manuscripts’ position in the current traditional music field, I consider the portrayal ofthe ‘folk’ from both a received historical view and a more contemporary academic
perspective.279
The first section of the chapter comprises biographical case-studies of the three post1850 tunebook compilers. The second section surveys a broader range of manuscripts
in order to provide a wider framework within which to set the three case-studies. The
third section analyses the key traits that emerge and puts forward some suggestions toaccount for them and their influence upon the culture of compiling music manuscripts.
The final section draws together the evidence to address the critical argument
regarding the compliance of the compilers’ traits with their depiction and thus theirsignificance in folk music tradition.

275

The title is a deliberate adaptation of Bearman’s title: The title echoes my attempt to uncover who
the compilers were in the same way that Bearman analysed Sharp’s Somerset singers. C. J. Bearman,'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', The Historical Journal, 43.
3 (2000), 751-75.
276
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27.
277
Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 3.
278
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers'.
279
Justification for this binary approach is given in Chapter 1.

77

Received history of archetypal folk musicians depicts an image of rural, elderly, poor
men who lack education. This view is likely prompted by the early collectors’
descriptions, summed up in Sharp’s conclusion that folk song is part of the culture of“the non-educated, or “the common people”…the unlettered…the remnants of thepeasantry…who resided in the country and subsisted on the land”,280 causing muchcontention throughout twentieth century folk song discourse.281 In the most recent
writings on the subject, current scholarly thought regarding the characteristics of thefolk can be seen to encompass a much broader scope. The image of nineteenthcentury vernacular musicians includes people of any age, gender, habitat (urban orrural) and, to some degree, level of education, the key over-riding factor being thatthey are “ordinary”.282
Equating to a somewhat antagonistic definition of class, this describes the music as
coming from the nineteenth-century working classes, showing parallels with thereceived historical characteristics noted above. “In the 1970s folk music scholarshiptook a wrong turn”,283 repercussions of which are still evident today nearly fifty years
on,284 and the historiography of folk music has suffered. The history of the music andits participants was overshadowed by political arguments and accusation. My aim is
not a political one. In order for useful discourse going forward, objective exposure to
the musical practice is required with as few preconceptions and judgments as ispossible. It is my intention to keep this integrity at the forefront of my examination
into the manuscripts.

Biographical Examination of Case Studies.
An account for the life of each of the musicians responsible for compiling the threecase-study manuscripts is explored in the following section, beginning with the mostrecent of the three manuscripts.

280

Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 3.
See for example: Lloyd, Folk Song in England; Harker, Fakesong : The Manufacture of British'Folksong' 1700 to the Present Day. Bearman, 'English Folk Music Movement 1898-1914'.
282
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27. This is not without problems as discussed later.
283
Bearman, 'English Folk Music Movement 1898-1914', p. 37.
284
Dave Harker, 'Dr Bearman's "Meticulous Scholarship"', Folk Music Journal, 11. 2 (2017), 49-53;
Michael Yates, 'Correspondance 'Dr Bearman's "Meticulous Scholarship"', Folk Music Journal, 11. 3(2018), 124; Vic Gammon, 'Guest Editorial', Folk Music Journal, 11. 3 (2018), 4-5.
281

78

Hampton MS c1870-1880s - Thomas Hampton 1844-1896.285
Although unnamed, this manuscript was owned and, in the most part written by mygreat-great grandfather, Thomas Hampton who was baptised in the rural
Gloucestershire village of Blaisdon, in March 1844.286 He was the fifth child of Elizabethand John Hampton,287 a charcoal runner,288 who had one more child, William in
1847.289 Thomas’ mother died in 1849, when he was aged five, and the 1851 census
lists him as a scholar, lodging with William Blewett in Blaisdon along with his older
sister Ann and younger brother, William.290 In 1861, there is no record of Thomas’
whereabouts, but his father and brothers are at the canal wharf, Hereford, living on acharcoal barge, the ‘Mary’, which plied the Hereford and Gloucester Canal.291 Thomas
married Ann Wyatt, from Droitwich, at the Hereford Register Office in March 1870.292
Ann’s father, Alfred, also a boatman, had died after being crushed between two boats
in 1860. 293 A newspaper article describes the incident, concluding that “the sufferer is
at present going on as favourably as expected”, 294 yet, his death certificate reveals
that he died of the injuries two days later on October 8th 1860.295 As his brothers,285

Baptism Record for Thomas Hampton; 'Thomas Hampton', Certified Copy of Death Certificate forThomas Hampton, 19 December 1896 (Application Number FC 509473: Hereford, 2004).
286
The village was small with a population of 280 in 1851: 'Blaisdon', Post Office Directory ofGloucestershire, Bath & Bristol, (1856), (p. 242) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4
December 2016]. In 1861 it had risen to 282: 'Blaisdon', Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops &Wales,, (1868), (p. 252) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/> [accessed 2 April 2017]. Baptism
Record for Thomas Hampton.
287'John Hampton', 1841 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 369; Book: 1; Civil Parish:
Blaisdon; County: Gloucestershire; Enumeration District: 1; Folio: 7; Page: 8; Line: 2; GSU roll: 288780),<https://www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 3 October 2015]; 'Elizabeth Hampton', Baptism Record for
Elizabeth Hampton, 22 January 1843 (Fhl Film Number: 91516) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April2017].
288'John Hampton', Certified Copy of Death Certificate for John Hampton, 29 February 1884 (Application
Number 3114128-2: Hereford Register Office, 2011). A copy of the death certificate has kindly been
provided by Audrey Bottomley.
289'William Hampton', Baptism Record for William Hampton, Oct-Nov-Dec 1847 (Gloucestershire, Vol.
11, Page 433) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2015].
290'Thomas Hampton', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1959; Folio: 420; Page: 2; GSU
roll: 87359), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2015].
291'John Hampton', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 1821; Folio: 107; GSU roll: 542873),<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 17 October 2015].
292'Thomas Hampton', Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate for Thomas Hampton and Ann Wyatt, 7March 1870 (Application Number 8111747/1: Hereford Register Office, 2017). See Chapter 4 for imageof marriage certificate.
293'Alfred Whyatt', Death Certificate for Alfred Wyatt, 8 October 1860 (Application Number FD 079713:
Birmingham, 2006). A copy of the death certificate has kindly been provided by Audrey Bottomley.
294'Local News : Accident', Birmingham Journal, 6 October 1860, <www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>[accessed 20 June 2016] p. 5.
295
Death Certificate for Alfred Wyatt.

79

father and father-in-law worked on the canal, it is plausible that Thomas was also
employed as a boatman.
The Hereford and Gloucester canal was prosperous in the early to mid-nineteenth
century, 1860 being the most successful year financially.296 Ironically this was due inpart to extra traffic resulting from the building of the railways. There followed a longdecline, starting in 1862, when the canal company agreed to the Great Western andWest Midland Railways taking over the canal for conversion to a railway, leading
eventually to its closure in 1881.297 It is likely that this played a part in the Hampton
family’s relocation to Hereford to seek alternative employment. Thomas’ wedding
certificate describes both himself and his father as general labourers, and has Thomasand Ann residing at 3, Victoria Street, Hereford.298
Their first child, Charles is registered as having been born in Holmer, a rural village two
miles north of Hereford city centre, and he was baptised in the parish church there in
March 1871.299 Later that same year the family had returned to an urban environment,
residing in 7, Harrison’s Gardens, Bath Street, Hereford.300 Close to the canal wharf,
Bath Street was also directly next to the prison and workhouse. This location, coupledwith Thomas’ occupation as a skinner, suggests a modest existence. Thomas and Ann
remained in Bath Street raising four children, until Thomas’ death from chronic
pneumonia, asthma and phthisis, at the age of fifty-two in 1896.301
The publication date of some of the items included in Hampton MS suggest it wascompiled when Thomas lived in Hereford, although some of the melodies may havebeen known to him as a boy in rural Blaisdon.
The final items in the manuscript, especially Ham.15.1 onwards, demonstrate an
untidy writing style. This could merely indicate a different pen nib or a more hurriedtranscription or could be evidence of this section of the manuscript being compiled

296David E. Bick, The Hereford & Gloucester Canal, (Newent, Glos: The Pound House, 1979), p. 34.
Ibid. pp. 37-41.
298
Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate for Thomas Hampton and Ann Wyatt.
299'Charles Hampton', Baptism Record for Charles Hampton, 24 March 1871 (Fhl Film Number: 1041604)<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2015].
300'Thomas Hampton', 1871 England Census Return (Class: RG10; Piece: 2698; Folio: 27; Page: 47; GSU
roll: 835344), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2015].
301
Certified Copy of Death Certificate for Thomas Hampton. A copy of the death certificate has kindly
been provided by Audrey Bottomley.
297

80

towards the end of Hampton’s life. A contributing factor to Hampton’s death was
phthisis, a wasting disease,302 and could be attributed to the decline in his writing
style.303 The two examples in Figure 16 demonstrate this, one taken from early on in
the manuscript and the other from the final page:

Figure 16 : Pages 4 and 16 of Hampton MS.

Arguably this indicates tunes added later, when increasing years, deteriorating
eyesight or arthritis and the effects of phthisis are affecting his transcription. If so, thisprovides insightful evidence of the manuscript going beyond the scope of a mere
repository of tunes, hinting at every-day and yet intimate life events.
Further personal events may also be inferred through the inclusion of specific items.
Again, this widens the value of the manuscript from a simple tune book to a personal
historical narrative. The following theory is speculative due to a lack of unattainablesupporting evidence but is worthy of inclusion for the insight and tangible connection
it suggests. From Ham.10.3 a religious theme emerges, influenced by Moody andSankey’s writing interspersed with contemporary songs. Four hymns, with titles andlyrics suited to a funeral, surround five popular songs, some of which would either

302
303

Oxford English Dictionary, "Phthisis, N.", (Oxford University Press).
Certified Copy of Death Certificate for Thomas Hampton.

81

appeal to a child’s taste or whose lyrics strongly express melancholic sentiment andthe choice of material in this section could be indicative of the death of a child.
This section could represent a later stage of compilation than previously thought(c1890), coinciding with the death of Thomas’ son, also named Thomas, who died in1890 aged eighteen years old.304 However, a more plausible hypothesis with regards todates and tune titles is that it coincides with the birth and subsequent death ofThomas’ nephew, baby George Thomas Hampton, baptised on 22 nd August 1878 in St
Peter’s, Hereford and who died within two months of his birth.305 The baby’s father
was Thomas’ younger brother, William Hampton and the mother, merely listed asAgnes, suggests they were unmarried.306 In 1871 William, listed as unmarried, wasliving with their older sister, Mary and her husband in 4 Monkmoor Street, Hereford, 307
a short walk away from Thomas and his family,308 suggesting close family ties. William
cannot be found in the 1881 census but in 1891 is still lodging with his sister and herhusband and remains unmarried.309
Appendix A shows the transcription of these tunes commencing at Ham.10.3, ‘Safe In
The Arms of Jesus’, followed by ‘Sun Of My Soul’, ‘‘Tis But A Little Faded Flower’, ‘The
Little Brown Jug’, ‘My Grandfather’s Clock’, ‘Valse’, ‘The Empty Cradle’, ‘Come To the
Saviour’ and concluding with ‘Tell Me The Old Old Story’, Ham.12.2. The inclusion ofthese tunes could be indicative of Thomas playing the fiddle at his nephew’s funeral.310
Whilst this is a hypothesis, it highlights a personal connection which abruptly changes
the perception of the manuscript from a detached, dispassionate archival artefact to ahighly personal object, enabling identification with a sense of the sadness and grief.
304'Thomas Hampton', Death Record for Thomas Hampton, 1890 (Herefordshire Volume: 6a Page: 266)
<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 24 October 2015].
305'George Thomas Hampton', Baptism Record for George Thomas Hampton, 22 August 1878 (Fhl Film
Number: 1041602) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2016]; 'George Thomas Hampton', Death
Record for George Thomas Hampton, Jul-Aug-Sep 1878 (Herefordshire Volume: 6a Page: 288)
<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2016]. St Peter’s is the same parish in which Thomas lived.
306This is corroborated by no record of a marriage being found.
307'William Hampton', 1871 England Census Return (Class: RG10; Piece: 2698; Folio: 21; Page: 36; GSU
roll: 835344), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2016].
308
Google Maps, '4 Monkmoor Street - 17 Bath Street, Hereford', Google (2017)<https://www.google.co.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017].
309'William Hampton', 1891 England Census Return (Class: RG12; Piece: 2061; Folio: 14; Page: 21; GSU
roll: 6097171), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 October 2016].
310
I propose that Ham.11.1 and Ham.11.2 could be included as appropriate for inclusion at a child’s
funeral from personal experience of knowing and singing these songs as a child although I accept that
this is an arguable point.

82

Throughout the manuscript all tunes are written in the treble clef and favour the keysof D and G major. Melodic range, manuscript title and family knowledge confirm thatthe violin was the intended instrument. A small number of the tunes are written in A
major and C major possibly hinting at the compiler playing with other instrumentalists,
or capable of playing other instruments perhaps a fife or whistle. 311
Before addressing the two chief scribes noted in Chapter 1, there is an additional‘guest’ scribe whose identity remains unknown. The transcription style of Ham.11.3(Figure 17), is more erratic and untidy, perhaps demonstrating a hurried approachsuggested by the ‘squeezed-in’ positioning of the tune and title, which is incorrectly
added before the end of the previous tune. Stylistic variance of clef and stemtranscription, conspicuous by its convention in comparison to the remainder of thestems in the manuscript, further upholds the idea that this tune was transcribed by adifferent person.

Figure 17 : The transcription style of Ham.11.3.

Walter Soobroy 1851-1931.312
Returning attention to the two main scribes, the first writes the opening nine items(Ham.1.1 – Ham3.2), which are written in a neater, well-educated hand. Chapter 1
introduced the collection of contemporaneous printed music passed down alongside
the manuscript, and it is this music that provides the key to identifying the first ofthese manuscript scribes. Figure 18 shows the name ‘Walter Soobroy’ written in a

311

Corroborated by the instruments handed down along with the manuscript, see Chapter 1.
'Walter Soobroy', Marriage Record for Walter Soobroy, 2 July 1874 (Fhl Film Number: 992807 )<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 6 October 2015]; 'Walter Soobroy', Death Record for Walter Soobroy,1931 (Herefordshire Volume: 6a Page: 571) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 7 October 2015].
312

83

neat, smart hand,313 in a copy of Hopwood & Crew’s Selection […] Book 4. The first four
letters (‘Walt’), are directly comparable with those found in the word ‘Waltz’(Ham.1.1), in Hampton MS.

Figure 18 : Walter Soobroy's name written on printed music and matching handwriting in Ham.1.1 and Ham.2.2.

The ‘S’ of Soobroy matches the initial letter of ‘Scotch Melody’,314 and two more
identical occurrences of the letter ‘W’ further confirm that the first manuscript scribe
was Walter Soobroy. The style of the letter ‘F’ from the composer’s name in Ham.1.1(Figure 19), suggests that Soobroy also wrote the title of the book.

Figure 19 : Extracts from the front cover of Hampton MS and Ham.1.1.

A distinct change in writing style occurs from Ham.4.1 onwards. The writing of bothmusic and words is rougher than Soobroy’s, possibly more hurried and suggestive of alower level of education. I believe this is the hand of Thomas Hampton. A sharp
contrast in genre accompanies the contrasting hand, as the repertoire moves fromSoobroy’s predominantly contemporary mid-late-nineteenth-century dance tunes tomore historic tunes.

313

Coote, Hopwood & Crew's Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &C. Edited and Expressly Arranged
for the Violin Book 4.
314
See Ham.2.2.

84

Records indicate Walter Soobroy was the son of Mary Soobroy, a laundress, and thedaughter of Mary Gough and step-daughter of Richard Gough.315 Walter’s stepgrandfather Richard, with whom he lived from birth, was a journeyman andcabinetmaker from Ireland. Mary, Walter’s grandmother is listed as ‘Cabinet Maker’s
wife’, signifying a pride in not working, possibly with more time to spend with a young
boy helping in his education.316 It is also indicative of the family not being in desperate
poverty, perhaps with disposable income affording to send Walter to a local school,accounting for his neater handwriting.317 In 1871, at approximately the date when the
manuscript was compiled, Walter was living in Gaol Street, Hereford, a minute’s walkaway from Thomas Hampton’s 1871 address, and was working as a brush-maker’s
assistant.318 Despite the census of 1881 indicating that Walter, now married, had
moved, he remained only a short walk from Thomas.319
The circumstances surrounding the relationship between the two men, and how andwhy the manuscript book transferred from Soobroy to Hampton, are unknown.
However, it is relatively safe to assume that twenty-six-year-old Thomas and twentyyear-old Walter knew each other. Soobroy’s superior hand and the inclusion of somepedagogic items conceivably place him in the role of an instructor, although, a simpler
explanation such as Soobroy offering the remaining empty pages of his manuscript toHampton remains feasible.
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866
Although signed and dated, ascertaining the identity and number of scribes involved increating the second manuscript is problematic. The book starts with one clear hand,
identified by a thin treble clef and rounded note heads. However, the notation stylechanges, as the notes and beaming become thinner and somewhat slanted and thestyle of treble clef alters. Both Til.12.1 and Til.13.1 show additional stylistic changes by
315

There is some ambiguity as the 1861 census shows Walter as Walter Gough, Richard and Mary
Gough’s son, and the 1871 census as Richard’s grandson. 'Walter Soobroy', 1861 England Census Return(Class: RG 9; Piece: 1821; Folio: 84; Page: 8; GSU roll: 542873), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 16
September 2015]; 'Walter Soobroy', 1871 England Census Return (Class: RG10; Piece: 2700; Folio: 36;
Page: 22; GSU roll: 835344), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 16 September 2015].
316'Richard Gough', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1978; Folio: 301; Page: 29; GSU
roll: 87379), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 7 October 2015].
317
This is considered in more depth in Chapter 6.
318'Walter Soobroy', 1871 England Census Return.
319'Walter Soobroy', 1881 England Census Return (Class: RG11; Piece: 2594; Folio: 80; Page: 35; GSU roll:
1341625), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 Novemeber 2015].

85

marking a dot in every stave space at the section ends, a feature not seen in thepreceding tunes.320 Furthermore, the addition of decreasing vertical lines to mark theend of the piece has been added after the first ‘Schottische’, but not the subsequent‘Schottische’, and from this point continue inconsistently throughout the manuscript,
yet prior to this every tune has the distinctive decreasing lines.
The two tunes following both Til.12.1 and Til.13.1, both appear to have been added
later, filling up space and indicating a different ink and notation style from the pair of‘Schottisches’. They appear to be in the same hand as the earlier material in the book,which in itself is interesting as it suggests that if two transcribers were working they
were doing so concurrently, the distinctive vertical lines added after the first‘Schottische’ perhaps being added by this scribe to a pre-existing tune before
commencing work on his new transcription.
The remainder of the book shows a combination of both the slanted style versus themore rounded note heads and straight beaming and whilst seemingly a different hand,
could be attributed to a different nib. Distinctive flourishes on the treble clef tails
continue with varying degrees of curlicue throughout the book, as does the marking of
dots in every stave space. There is an inconsistency regarding the inclusion of time
signatures, and despite the combination of both styles, a characteristic line drawn in
the time signatures, first appearing in Til.16.1 continues more-or-less throughout thebook. Stronger evidence of an additional scribe can be found in Til.44.2 which not only
has stylistic differences in key and clef, but the song dates from 1893 suggesting amuch later addition.321
The notation alternates between these two styles with idiosyncratic stylistic features
combined not just throughout the book, but throughout the tunes, causing problems
in definitively identifying individual scribes. The evidence suggests that the secular
music represents the hands of up to three men who have not yet necessarily
established a consistent style or who copy some stylistic features from their sources,
with access to more than one nib style.
320

Please refer to Appendix A for visual evidence.
The title and melody match with a popular musichall song, thought to have been written in 1893, by
321
Wal Pink and George Le Brunn, (and thus indicates a later addition to the manuscript). New York
Library Digital Collections, 'Half Past Nine', The New York Public Library (2018)<https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/> [accessed 29 January 2018].
321

86

Stylistic comparison with the sacred items does not aid scribal differentiation, although
the same idiosyncratic line drawn between time signatures can be seen in the later
religious music. I would speculate that the sacred items show evidence of two scribes,
the earlier psalms being written by another, possibly older hand, demonstrating
differing stylistics to the extent that this hand had no part in transcribing the secular
items.322
Identity of Scribes

Figure 20 : Inside front cover of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Figure 21 : Inside back co ver of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Despite these names, dates and location details, this manuscript is the mostproblematic of the three in terms of ownership, with at least seven possible candidates
having been traced. In part this is a consequence of the popularity of the forename
George but in addition, at least two of the potential candidates appear to be known by
the two surnames, Clutterbuck and Till. Whilst census and marriage records serve to
identify George Clutterbuck, all of his children’s baptismal records show that he andhis wife, Emma, were also known by the surname Till, and similar discrepancies occur

322

John Colling’s sacred manuscript book which was deposited at Gloucestershire Archives at the sametime was also consulted in order to observe any notational similarity but showed no consistency withthe religious material in Till/Clutterbook MS.

87

in respect of their son, George Francis (frequently referred to as Francis in official
records prior to his father’s death).
George Till/Clutterbuck 1845-1906.323
In 1845, Mary Clutterbuck, spinster, gave birth to a child, George who was baptised at
Berkeley, Gloucestershire, on September 7th, 1845 (Figure 22). The officiating minister
was the Rev. Charles Cripps, curate of Stone Chapel, a chapelry of Berkeley parish,
suggesting that Mary had her son baptised in the nearby hamlet of Stone, rather thanthe larger town of Berkeley. No father is listed on the baptismal record and Mary’s
address is given as Clapton.324

Figure 22 : Baptism Record of George Clutterbuck. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (Gdr/V1/410).

Mary Clutterbuck can be found working as a servant in Clapton in 1851.325 Clapton, no
longer extant, was a small hamlet, not far from Stone.326 An alternative candidate in1851 can be found in Camberwell where a Mary Ann Clutterbuck, born in Stone,
Gloucestershire, is working as a servant.327 However, the linked reference to Clapton

323'George Clutterbuck', Baptism Record for George Clutterbuck, 7 September 1845 (Gloucestershire
Archives; Gloucester, England; Gdr/V1/410) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 7 March 2017]; 'George
Clutterbuck', Death Record for George Clutterbuck, Jul-Aug-Sept 1906 (Gloucestershire Volume: 6a Page:
145) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].
324
Baptism Record for George Clutterbuck.
325'Mary Clutterbuck', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1957; Folio: 568; Page: 26; GSU
roll: 87357), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].
326
Ham is 3 miles away from Stone.
327'Mary Ann Clutterbuck', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1582; GSU roll: 174818),<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 7 February 2017].

88suggests the first identity is the most probable.328 Mary was possibly related tochildless couple George and Sarah Clutterbuck from Stone who were farmers,329 as on
George Clutterbuck’s marriage certificate twenty-two years later, his ‘father’ is listed
as ‘George Clutterbuck, farmer’, possibly referring to these relatives.
In the 1851 census, five-year-old George was living as a lodger with Thomas andCharlotte Till in Stone, and his birthplace listed as Clapton.330 He was still under the
Tills’ care in the 1861 census, this time with his birth place listed more generically as
Berkeley.331 At the age of twenty-two, in September 1867, the year following the dategiven with the George Till inscription in the manuscript, he married Emma Crump in
Bristol, under the name of Clutterbuck.332 It seems possible he was known locally by
the name of his guardians, ‘Till’, and only became ‘Clutterbuck’ in more official
documents.
To add to the confusion, Emma Crump was the daughter of Ann Crump,333 whobecame Ann Till when she married John Till (born in Berkeley, but living in Oldbury-OnSevern, six miles away from Stone, at the time of the manuscript).334 John and Ann had
two further children together, Henry and George Till.335 It is therefore conceivable that
Emma was known as ‘Till’ locally, fitting in with the rest of the household.

328

This could demonstrate the vagaries of nineteenth-century census completion and could actually be
the same woman, her name being completed on both censuses.
329'George and Sarah Clutterbuck', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 1749; Folio: 79;
Page: 11; GSU roll: 542862), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 7 April 2017].
330'George Clutterbuck', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1957; Folio: 579; Page: 8;
GSU roll: 87357), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
331'George Clutterbuck', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 1749; Folio: 80; Page: 13; GSU
roll: 542862), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
332'George Clutterbuck and Emma Crump', Marriage Certificate for George Clutterbuck and Emma
Crump, 2 September 1867 (Application Number Page 75: St James, Bristol, 1867).
333'Emma Crump', Baptism Record for Emma Crump, 13 May 1838 (Fhl Film Number: 415132, 415133,
415135, 561598) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
334'Ann Crump', Marriage Record for Ann Crump, 4 May 1845 (Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester,
England; Gdr/V1/413) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
335'Emma Crump', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 1748; Folio: 118; Page: 12; GSU roll:542862), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 20 April 2015].George Till is of course another possible
candidate for the name in the manuscript, although this has been discounted as it appears he lived in
Oldbury all his life.

89Six months after their marriage on 8th March 1868, Emma and George Clutterbuck’s
first child, Kate was born.336 She was baptised by the Rev. Cripps, at Stone on 2nd May
1868 and is listed as the daughter of Emma and George Till (see Figure 23).337

Figure 23 : Baptism record of Kate Till. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (P315).

Three years later, however, the family were listed as Clutterbucks in the 1871
census.338 Thomas Till, 339 George’s former guardian, now widowed, resided with themalong with their children Kate and nine-month-old Henry. By 1877 they had threefurther children, Eli, Felix Thomas and George Francis Till.340 All their children werebaptised by the Rev. Cripps at Stone. And once again, all were named as sons of Emmaand George Till (not Clutterbuck), in the parish records (Figure 24).341

Figure 24 : Till family baptisms 1877. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (P315).

336

Gloucestershire Archives, Birth List of Clutterbuck Family, D4190/15 (c1876).
'Kate Till', Baptism Record for Kate Till, 2 May 1868 (Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, England;
P315 in 1/4) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].
338'George Clutterbuck', 1871 England Census Return (Class: RG10; Piece: 2589; Folio: 72; Page: 8; GSU
roll: 835275), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
339
Thomas Till was George’s ‘adopted’ father, see above.
340
Gloucestershire Archives, Birth List of Clutterbuck Family.
341'Eli Till', Baptism Record for Eli Till, 24 January 1877 (Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, England;
P315 in 1/4) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].
337

90

The family continued to reside in Stone.342 By 1891, George Till/Clutterbuck was awidower, living with daughter Kate and son Frank (George Francis) in or next door to
the Crown Inn, Stone.343 George (senior) worked initially as an agricultural labourer
and in later censuses is listed simply as a labourer. The 1901 census lists him as a‘gardener, not domestic’,344 living with Francis, who is listed as a domestic gardener.
This might explain the apparent initials which appear to read HG following George
Clutterbuck’s name on the manuscript’s endpiece (Figure 25), perhaps referring to
Head Gardener, although this could be a rudimentary attempt at writing the name‘Till’, as the initial character could be a ‘T’ followed by two ‘l’s which match the ‘l’ from
Clutterbuck:

Figure 25 : The inscription on the endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

George died in 1906,345 and was buried under the name George Clutterbuck in Stone,
along with his wife Emma.346
For the first time, information in the 1911 census is written into the householdschedules in the hand of the head of the household. Francis, now known by his firstname of George, is listed as innkeeper of the Crown Inn, Stone (see Figure 29).347 He
appears as George Clutterbuck and some similarity of letter formations can be seen
between the census entry (Figure 26) and the signature on the inside back cover of themanuscript (Figure 27).

342

'George Clutterbuck', 1881 England Census Return (Class: RG11; Piece: 2517; Folio: 154; Page: 7; GSU
roll: 1341607), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
343'George Clutterbuck', 1891 England Census Return (Class: RG12; Piece: 2000; Folio: 133; Page: 4; GSU
roll: 6097110), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
344'George Clutterbuck', 1901 England Census Return (Class: RG13; Piece: 2413; Folio: 138; Page: 6),<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 21 April 2017].
345
Death Record for George Clutterbuck.
346
Rosemary Lockie, 'Some Memorial Inscriptions - Stone, Gloucestershire All Saints Churchyard',
Wishful Thinking (2013) <http://places.wishful-thinking.org.uk/GLS/Stone/MIs.html> [accessed 4
February 2017].A40
347
David James & Partners, 'Crown Inn, Stone', David James & Partners (No date)<http://www.davidjames.org.uk/propertyimages/26755z.pdf> [accessed 1 November 2015]. Page 3

91

Figure 26 : 1911 England census returns. Source: The National Archives.

Figure 27 : The inscription on the endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Additionally, the discovery of a handwritten list of family birth-dates matches thehandwriting of George Till on the manuscript (see Figure 28, and compare the style of
the words ‘Stone’, ‘George’ and the writing of the birth dates of his children). 348

Figure 28 : The inscription on the frontispiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS and list of George and Emma
Clutterbuck/Till's children. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (D4190\2\3).

The accession records at Gloucestershire Archives state the manuscript was depositedby Miss V. Smith.349 George Till/Clutterbuck’s daughter Kate married Henry John Smithand their unmarried daughter was Miss Victoria Kate Smith, who died at the age ofeighty-eight in 1995. She is buried with her mother and father in Stone graveyard not
348

Gloucestershire Archives, Birth List of Clutterbuck Family.
Gloucestershire Archives, 'D4190 - Smith and Clutterbuck Families of Old Court Farm, Stone',
Gloucestershire County Council (2017) <http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/CalmView/> [accessed
January 15 2017].
349

92

far from her grandparents, George and Emma Till/Clutterbuck.350 Despite someinconsistencies of dating,351 the connection between the manuscript and this line of
the Till/Clutterbuck family and especially George Till/Clutterbuck can be confirmed.
The most credible scenario is that the name of George Till on the inside front cover
was written by George Till/Clutterbuck, known on official documents as George
Clutterbuck but locally, as George Till, while the pencil signature on the inside backcover was written by his son George Francis Clutterbuck. I propose that the religious
end of the book was commenced first, transcribed by either Thomas Till or one of theolder George Clutterbucks (grandfather or one of the Stone relatives), and that it wasthen passed to George, who added to the religious matter and subsequently turned
the book around to start his collection of dances and song melodies.

Figure 29 : The Crown Inn, Stone, now a private house. Source: www.davidjames.org.uk.

Within the papers deposited alongside the manuscript, was a photograph album
belonging to George and Emma’s daughter, Kate, dated 1886.352 None of thephotographs is labelled, however only two photographs show an older generation(Figure 30). Whilst arguably supposition, it is possible that one of these couples could
represent Kate’s parents: Emma and manuscript compiler, George; who would be aged
forty-five and forty respectively at the date of the start album.353

350

Lockie, 'Some Memorial Inscriptions - Stone, Gloucestershire All Saints Churchyard'.A50
Gloucestershire Archives list the papers as being deposited by Miss V. Smith in 1981, 1982 and 1999.
This final date transpires to be four years after her death. I presumed this to be an administrative error
either typographical or the final papers being deposited by another relative and not noted. I queried thiswith the Gloucestershire Archives who were able to confirm that the final items were in fact depositedby an executor Mr Crossman.
352
Gloucestershire Archives, Photograph Albums Belonging to Kate Clutterbuck, D4190/16 (1886).
353
Possibly the photo depicts the same couple taken at different times. Ages from census: 'George
Clutterbuck', 1881 England Census Return.
351

93Figure 30 : Two photographs from Kate Clutterbuck's 1886 photograph album. Source: Gloucestershire Archives(D4190\2\4).

Figure 31 shows a family tree depicting the relationships of the key family members
associated with the manuscripts.

Figure 31 : A family tree depicting key Till/Clutterbuck family members.

Stone, in which Till/Clutterbuck appears to have spent his entire life, is a rural village insouthern Gloucestershire with a tiny but stable population during the period of the94manuscript.354 Stone had its own church, ‘All Saints’, a chapelry of Berkeley which was
the nearest market town,355 four miles away. The 1894-95 Gazetteer of England andWales lists Stone as part of the ecclesiastical parish of Berkeley, naming Lord
Fitzhardinge of Berkeley Castle as owner of the manor.356 In the 1890s, the chief trades
for Berkeley and the surrounding areas were coal, timber and cheese.357
The secular tunes are transcribed for one part and are written in the treble clef,
predominantly in the keys of G and D. Observations of melodic range suggest thecompiler may have played flute, piccolo, C clarinet, cornet or oboe.
Bennett MS 1860
The earliest of the three case-study manuscripts appears to have been compiled by
two chief scribes, with the addition of two occasional ones. The main scribes have
similar handwriting and work concurrently but use distinct treble clefs (Figure 32):

stnd

Figure 32 : Difference in treble clefs drawn by 1 and 2 scribes in Bennett MS.

The scribe of the initial sacred material continues with the secular material, joined by
the second scribe at Ben.34.1. Scribe 1 appears to add Ben.34.2 and Ben.36.2
afterwards although it is hard to be conclusive. Throughout the remainder of the book,transcriptions appear to be written by both scribes, with the addition of a guest scribe(see below). Due to the age of Bennett’s children in the year given on the manuscript, I
do not believe the second scribe to be one of his children. However, it is possible thatas the manuscript progresses (and by Ben.67.1) he is teaching a member of the family,354

In 1856 the population was 276, 'Stone', Post Office Directory of Gloucestershire, Bath & Bristol,(1856), (p. 370) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 22 April 2017]. In 1870-72 it was 277, A
Vision of Britain Through Time, 'History of Stone, in Stroud and Gloucestershire', University ofPortsmouth (2017) <http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/25047> [accessed 22 April 2017].
355
A Vision of Britain Through Time, 'History of Stone, in Stroud and Gloucestershire'; 'Stone'.
356
1894-5 The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 'Stone, Gloucestershire', UK Genealogy
Archives (No date) <http://ukga.org/england/Gloucestershire/towns/Stone.html> [accessed 3 February2017].
357
Ibid.

95

or a friend. Notational shorthand,358 Cornopean fingering,359 and a diatonic scale withnote names all hint at this. The spelling of ‘diatonic’ (Figure 33), offers a remarkableinsight into a strong Somerset accent, highlighting the tangible qualities of manuscripts
as artefacts.

Figure 33 : Ben.67.1 depicting the 'Doyatonic' scale.

George Wilkins Bennett 1831-1892.360

Figure 34 : George Wilkins Bennett. Source: Huronia Museum, Ontario, Canada.

George Wilkins Bennett (Figure 34),361 the oldest son of the blacksmith William
Bennett and his wife Sarah,362 was born in 1831. The house in which he was born is358

Ben.66.1
Ben.67.1
360'George Wilkins Bennett', Baptism Record for George Wilkins Bennett, 2 December 1831 (Somerset
Heritage Service; Taunton, Somerset, England; Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914; D\P\Chedz/2/1/3)<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017]; Dorothy Bennett, 'Family History of George Wilkins
Bennett and Daughter Helena Mary Bennett Posted by Grc08 2014 Written 1982', Ancestry (2014)<www.ancestry.co.uk> [accessed 22 April 2017].
361
Carter, Email.
359

96

said to be still standing beside the Chedzoy church.363 The Chedzoy tithe map of 1836
(Figure 35), shows, not far from the church (73) the cottage occupied by William
Bennett (79a), and is listed as owned by Henry Porter, Esquire.364

Figure 35 : Chedzoy tithe map (1836). Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/3/2/1).

It sits within a larger plot, no. 79, listed as a cottage and garden being owned andoccupied by Fanny Bennett, likely George Wilkins Bennett’s grandmother, Frances.365
The sizable plot indicates some wealth or social standing of which further indications
can be seen in a lease document, set to commence 2nd February 1813 drawn up
between Sir Philip Hales Bt., and George’s grandfather, ‘William Bennett of Chedzoy inthe said County Blacksmith’, see Figure 36.366

362'George Wilkins Bennett', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1925; Folio: 369; Page:
6; GSU roll: 221082), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017]; Baptism Record for George Wilkins
Bennett.
363
Dorothy Bennett, 'George Wilkins Bennett Posted by Grc08 2014 Written 1982', Ancestry (2014)<www.ancestry.co.uk> [accessed 22 April 2017].
364
Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Tithe Map with Apportionment Attached SHC D/P/chedz/3/2/1(1836). Reproduced with kind permission of the South West Heritage Trust.
365
William Bennett, George’s father is the son of Frances and William Bennett of Chedzoy: 'William
Bennett', Baptism Record for William Bennett, 6 July 1800 (Somerset Heritage Service; Taunton,
Somerset, England; Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914; D\P\Chedz/2/1/2)<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].
366
Somerset Heritage Centre, Lease of Twelve Acres of Pasture on King's Sedgemoor, SHC
DD/BR/ely/13/1/116 (8 October 1812). Reproduced with kind permission of the South West Heritage
Trust. The lease, for 12 acres of land at a Rack rent for 7 years’, cost £35 although in pencil it is notedthat the lease was not paid. This might suggest that between signing the lease in October 1812 and thestart date given, circumstances changed, and the land was not leased to Bennett.

97

Figure 36 : Lease between Hales and Bennett. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC (DD/BR/ely/13/1/116).

William Bennett appears as a blacksmith in the churchwarden’s accounts from 1789.
The trade was passed down the family although both George Wilkins Bennett’s
grandfather and father were called William, making identification difficult. A William
Bennett was paid for smithing duties in most years from 1789 to 1821. 367 There was anine-year hiatus, with payments resuming from 1831, and the duties transferred toGeorge Wilkins Bennett in either 1857 or 1863.368 The 1851 census lists George Wilkins
Bennett, aged nineteen still living with his parents and six siblings,369 but eight years
later in 1859, the year before the date of the manuscript, he married Mary Jemima
Hook.370
Mary was the daughter of a tailor who according to oral narrative, was apprenticed toher father at the age of seventeen in a shop in Bridgewater.371 Mary is listed in the1851 census, aged twelve, living with her family in Chedzoy, her father, James Hookbeing listed as ‘Taylor’.372 No references to James Hook in the Bridgwater trade

367

Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (Rates) 1760-1819, SHC
D/P/chedz/4/1/1 (1760-1823).
368
Two entries (dated 1857 and 1862) for smithing bills are unclear as they are listed merely to Mr
Bennett, but by 1863 George Bennett is specified as the receiver. Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy
Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (I.E Full Rates) to 1829; Church Restoration Account 1886;
Vestry Minutes, 1843-1849., SHC D/P/chedz/4/1/2 (1824-1969).
369'George Wilkins Bennett', 1851 England Census Return.
370
See image of marriage certificate in Chapter 6. 'George W. Bennett', Certified Copy of Marriage
Certificate for George W. Bennett and Mary J. Hook, 30 May 1859 (Application Number 8177386-2:
Chedzoy, Bridgwater, 24 April 2017).
371
Bennett, 'George Wilkins Bennett Posted by Grc08 2014 Written 1982'.
372'James Hook', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1925; Folio: 376; Page: 21; GSU roll:
221082), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].

98directories can be found; instead, he is listed as a tailor in Chedzoy,373 and was clearlyof respectable social standing as throughout the 1860s and 1870s many vestry meeting
reports record his election to the post of parish Constable, shown in Figure 37.374

Figure 37 : Chedzoy Parish Church vestry book. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC (D/P/chedz/9/1/1).

Inscriptions added to two of the sacred items, such as ‘Hooks Favourite’, and ‘Maryes’(Figure 38), might hint at a connection between the two in the church quire.

Figure 38 : ‘Hooks Favourite’ and ‘Maryes’, Bennett MS.

Two further census records list George, working as a blacksmith, and Mary, working as
a dressmaker, living with their children in Chedzoy.375 George continues to appear in

373

E.R. Kelly, The Post Office Directory Somerset and Devon with Bristol, (London: Kelly & Co., 1866), p.
325.
374
Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Parish Records Vestry Meeting Book, SHC D/P/chedz/9/1/1(1863-1883). Reproduced with kind permission of the South West Heritage Trust.

99the churchwarden’s accounts either as blacksmith or as a villager paying a subscription
until 1873.376 He was also listed in the 1860s trade directories as a blacksmith inChedzoy.377 No further UK census records exist for the family.
Chedzoy’s postal town was Bridgewater, three miles away,378 with access to the Bristol
to Exeter railway within 3 miles. 379 It was a small village but suffered a population
decline of forty-two per cent from the year of Bennett’s birth to the last decade of the
century, reflecting wider social and economic changes.380
A historical narrative, written by Bennett’s grand-daughter, passed down to relatives
and posted on a Canadian genealogy website accounts for the Bennett’s absence from
subsequent UK census records:
Grandfather Bennett was one of the youngest? [sic] of a large family. He was a
blacksmith in the small village of Chedzoy and the house where he lived still
stands beside the church. The blacksmith shop was attached to the back of theshop. He made ironware of various kinds and some of the hinges on our oldbarn were his handiwork. He also shod the farm animals around the village but
most of his earnings was from shoeing the little moor ponies which the farmers
used to catch, train and sell for riding horses and drawing carts. When hardtimes came to Somerset the sale of these animals dropped off so much that hecould scarcely make a living. He developed asthma from his blacksmithing andthought that it might improve in the drier air of Canada.
In 1872 he and his older son Sealey, then a boy of twelve, came out to thiscountry to find a place for the family…They returned to England for two more
years, then the family, Grandma and Grandpa, Sealey, Bert, Ella and two-year
old Ida, moved out….Grandfather, so mother told us, was noted for a very quick

375'George Wilkins Bennett', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 1625; Folio: 128; Page: 7;
GSU roll: 542842), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017]; 'George Wilkins Bennett', 1871
England Census Return (Class: RG10; Piece: 2388; Folio: 55; Page: 2; GSU roll: 835108),<www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 22 April 2017].
376
Bennett is listed as contributing two shillings six pence a year. Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy
Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (I.E Full Rates) to 1829; Church Restoration Account 1886;
Vestry Minutes, 1843-1849.
377
E. R. Kelly, Post Office Directory Somerset and Devon with Bristol, (London: Kelly & Co, 1861), p. 316.
378
A Vision of Britain Through Time, 'History of Chedzoy, in Sedgemoor and Somerset', University ofPortsmouth (2017) <http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/12555> [accessed 23 April 2017].
379
Samuel Lewis, 'Chedzoy (St. Mary)', A Topographical Dictionary of England, (1848),<http://ukga.org/lewis_eng/C/3141.html> [accessed 24 April 2017].
380
In 1831 Chedzoy’s population numbered 549. British History Online from Victoria County History,'Chedzoy', Institute of Historical Research, University of London (2017) <http://www.britishhistory.ac.uk/vch/som/vol6/pp244-246> [accessed 23 April 2017]. This reduced 442 in 1870-72: A Visionof Britain Through Time, 'History of Chedzoy, in Sedgemoor and Somerset'. By 1891, the population was
only 317: British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Chedzoy'.

100temper but was also respected by his neighbours and frequently asked foradvice because of his superior general knowledge…
All the Bennetts and Hooks had artistic talent in one form or another. Ourfather, Sealey, did wood work and pencil drawings’.381
This valuable source dates the Bennett’s departure to 1874 when George Wilkins wasaged forty-three, fourteen years after the date of the manuscript. It is noteworthy thatthe manuscript was sufficiently cherished to be taken with them when they set up
home overseas. The date of the manuscript, dates of publication of the majority of thesecular items included in it, and the presence of a uniquely British bell-ringing
sequence (Ben.50.1), all suggest compilation in England prior to the family’s emigrationin 1874.
Personal correspondence with a living descendant of Bennett suggests that despite areference in the memoirs to mandolins in the family home, he was not known as alocal musician in Canada.382 This supports the idea that the manuscript’s contents
reflect English musical culture and repertoire during the fourteen years before theyemigrated to Canada. Repertoire, marginalia and melodic range suggest Bennett was amulti-instrumentalist indicating cornopean, Eb piccolo and flute and/or C Clarinet.
With the inclusion of the bell-ringing notation (Ben.50.1) shown in Figure 39, thecontents suggest a man with a wide interest in community musical activity.

Figure 39 : Ben.50.1 showing the bell ringing sequence.

The notes of this bell-ringing sequence do not comply with a particular ringing‘method’ which initially led me to believe it was evidence of Bennett attempting tonotate the pitches he could hear from Chedzoy church, next door. Perhaps he wasinterested in the melodies created by the bells he mended, or this was a later addition
when in Canada to explain the curious and uniquely British custom of church bell381

Bennett, 'Family History of George Wilkins Bennett and Daughter Helena Mary Bennett Posted by
Grc08 2014 Written 1982'.
382
Grc08, Email Correspondence (10 June 2015).

101

ringing to the locals. However, long-standing bell-ringer, Pete Hendy believes thatrather than a ringing ‘method’, Bennett has transcribed a ‘call change’ notation for aneight-bell tower in which pairs of bells swap place in each bar, until bars 4 and 5, which
are part of a set change called ‘Queens’. In bar 6, Hendy suggests that Bennett isstarting to continue the changes so that eventually, “after more than 5 minutes andanother 235 bars!”,383 he will get back to “‘Rounds’ which is where he started in Bar
1”.384 If so, this shows Bennett was well acquainted with bell-ringing, maybe evenbeing the band-leader, planning a call change sequence for a visit or contest at a
nearby eight-bell tower.385

Broader Indications
Biographical details indicate that at the time of compilation, all the case-study
compilers were male, relatively young, and from labour-intensive occupations. Twolived in small, rural villages but Hampton had moved from a rural setting to an urban
centre at the time he was compiling his manuscript, possibly reflecting the effects ofindustrialization, which may also have prompted Bennett’s emigration to Canada.
The well-documented argument regarding romanticised rural ideologies and the‘common’ people rumbled on throughout the twentieth-century historiography of folk
music following Sharp’s references to the “unlettered”,386 and “remnants ofpeasantry”.387 In his article of 2000, Bearman attempted to set out to establish thefacts following years of politically charged accusations against Sharp which he argues
had gradually “passe[d] into the accepted body of knowledge”.388 By conducting an indepth demographic survey on Sharp’s sources Bearman directly challenged thosearguments, specifically those made by Harker and maintained that his analysis was“the first attempt at a systematic biographical survey of a large group of folk

383

Pete Hendy, Email Correspondence (23 February 2017).
Ibid.
385
Nearby Bridgwater parish church had an eight bell tower at the time Bennett was living there
whereas Chedzoy was a six bell tower and hence not appropriate for this particular change sequence:
The Bells and Bell Ringers of St Mary's Church Bridgwater, 'Bell Augmentation Project', St Mary's Church
Bridgwater (2016) <http://www.stmarysbells.org.uk/p/project-for-2016.html> [accessed 23 April 2017].
386
Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 3.
387
Ibid. p. 4.
388
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', p. 773.
384

102

singers”.389 Gammon, too, has carried out surveys of Sussex church musicians, bellringers and singers, although his observational field considers occupation alone.390
To scrutinise the emerging traits and to observe key trends on a more comprehensive
scale, I pursued a similar method to Bearman and Gammon.391 Looking beyond thethree case-studies I have carried out a survey of a wider sample of manuscript sources,using instrumental manuscripts with named and identifiable compilers, location anddated within the range 1850-1900.392 Demographic data was collated from the census
records most closely matching the dates of the manuscripts, thus taking some accountof the pitfalls posed by social mobility as outlined by Bearman.393 Initially twenty-eight
manuscripts met the criteria, but this reduced to nineteen when manuscripts werediscounted because names and locations could not be identified. Further ambiguities
of either identification or location in the census records resulted in only twelve
manuscripts (including those of Hampton, Till/Clutterbuck, and Bennett) being suitablefor use in the wider survey.
It was important to rule out the possibility that those manuscripts with names
transcribed did not differ greatly from unnamed manuscripts. The ability or awarenessto inscribe a name on the manuscript could potentially skew the demographic results,
and to this end the unnamed Hampton MS was representative. Attempts to findadditional anonymous, post-1850 manuscripts are of course redundant for thisexercise as without identification, the demography cannot be assessed. However, acomparative study to observe the content or levels of musical literacy between named
and unnamed manuscripts would be useful.
The fact that the number of inscribed or named manuscripts is larger than anonymous
ones could suggest those with a name created a strong, tangible connection to a loved
one when the compiler died and were thus more likely to be kept by descendants
389

Ibid. p. 757.
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 32.
391
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers'; Gammon,'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914'.
392
Whilst acknowledging that the inscribed date does not necessarily reflect the date of manuscripttranscription this was the most appropriate data to use. I took the data from Folkopedia and VMP in
addition to the Hampton MS. Folkopedia, 'View Source for Tune Manuscripts List'; The Village Music
Project, 'Manuscripts', The Village Music Project (No date) <http://www.village-musicproject.org.uk/?page_id=25> [accessed 24 April 2017].
393
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers'.
390

103

increasing the chance of manuscript survival. Alternatively, perhaps the larger numberof inscribed manuscripts is purely due to the majority of compilers inscribing theirmanuscripts for reasons of pride, posterity and practicality. In the case of Hampton, it
is fortunate that an interest in fiddle playing and music transferred through eachgeneration, maintaining the value of the manuscript.
Chandler records evidence of a manuscript belonging to James Longshaw (born 1858)
who had no children of his own.394 Chandler does not indicate whether the manuscript
was inscribed, however its value and that of the owner were clearly not appreciated byhis two step-grandchildren, who did not know what happened to him,395 or the
manuscript once their biological grandmother had died. One step-granddaughter
describes the manuscript as:covered with sheepskin, was very smelly and dirty, and was “going sticky”,
which made her loath to touch it. It was quite a thick book, with the pages a bit
like vellum. It was definitely a hand-written manuscript… [she] did not knowwhat had happened to the violin or the manuscript book, although she wassure that the latter would not have been kept.396
Had the manuscript belonged to her grandmother or a blood-relative, it is possible thatthe outcome may have been different.
Similarly, a stronger chance of a manuscript’s survival could be related to environment,
forged by the manuscripts’ use through generations of a rural close-knit village
community and discussed in the ‘Environment’ section below. A perceived higher valueof the manuscripts by the compilers and subsequent ancestors could result in a higher
survival rate compared to their urban counterparts. A parallel can be drawn with thesurvival of manuscripts over their perceived ‘cheap’ printed sources, very few of whichsurvive.397 A handwritten music manuscript provides a tangible link for the deceased
compilers’ relatives giving the manuscript a higher chance of being retained (andperhaps treasured), than a pile of out-dated printed music. In a similar way, I have kept
my late mother’s handwritten recipe compilations yet passed the majority of her
copious collection of printed cookbooks to charity shops. The survival of the394

Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'.
She thinks he may have been sent to the workhouse.
396
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'.
397
See Chapter 4.
395

104

manuscripts over their sources raises the importance of the manuscripts as primaryevidence, not only in their ability to tell more of the story of these amateur musicians,
but also why they survived. That the repertoire has survived in the manuscript archiveas opposed to what could be considered as a more stable medium of print, is insightful
and shows the importance of the manuscripts as historical documents.
Results from the Wider Sample
The results show that all compilers were male and that two thirds of them were either
married or widowed at the time they compiled their manuscripts (the remainder
include two who were to be married the following year). Two thirds lived in rural
settings, compared with one third urban dwellers. The mean age at compilation,398 was
36.5 years although the mode fell within the 20-29 age range, shown in Figure 40.
20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79
5

2

1

1

0

1

Figure 40 : The mode age range of the wider sample.

Categorising the compilers’ occupations is contentious. It is especially problematic inthis field due to the effect class politics has had on the historiography of folk music.
There is a risk that any discussion of occupation or class will bring with it a conscious or
sub-conscious association with this history.
In order to avoid imposing non-contextual criteria on historical data, I looked forcontemporary classifications of class or occupation that would best represent theoccupational groupings as they existed at the time. Whilst contemporary evidence
existed to show the presence of and adherence to societal layers, finding acontemporaneous system of classification proved challenging. Since 1851 the British
population has been subject to categorization by occupation and industry, but it was
not until 1921 that the classifications in terms of social grades based directly on
occupation, rather than the broader and less useful category of industry was
introduced.399 A five-class system emerged (which remained largely unchanged
between 1921 and 1971, although changes were made to the classification of specific398

Two compilers were excluded: Andrews was omitted as the date of manuscript is not precise enoughto ascertain age and Collinge due to ambiguity regarding ownership being father or son.
399
Occupation is a more useful categorisation tool for class or economic assessment than industry.

105

occupations),400 which provides a means of loosely categorizing the compilers of midto-late-nineteenth-century music manuscripts by occupation and economic capacity. I
used the following categories, 401 and classed the compilers’ occupations accordingly,(I) professional occupations, manufacturers, etc; (II) lower professional, farmers, small
shopkeepers, managerial occupations etc; (III) skilled manual occupations; (IV) semiskilled manual occupations; and (V) unskilled manual occupations, (see Figure 41).
Occupation (1 of each of the following)
FarmerMusicianBlacksmith
Bootmaker, parish clerk and musician
Master rope manufacturer
Cordwainer/shoemaker
Retired farmer and shoemaker
Overlooker in cotton mill
Cotton cloth looker/winder
Skinner/general labourer
Agricultural labourer
Agricultural labourer

Armstrong’s Classification
II
II
III
III
III
III
III
III
IV
V
V
V

Figure 41 : Occupational classifications of the wider sample.

The chart below (Figure 42) shows the distribution of these results:

III (Skilled Labour)
V (Unskilled Labour)
II (Lower
Professional)
IV (Semi-skilled
Labour)Figure 42 : Distribution of the occupational classification of the wider sample.

Before moving on, it is important to acknowledge the inaccuracies and complicationsin using this system to grade occupations. Aside from the problem of subjectivity,
specific occupations could belong to more than one category. For example, ‘farmer’

400David Rose, 'Official Social Classifications in the Uk', Social Research Update, July. 9 (1995), 1-5.
W. A. Armstrong, 'Appendix D the Classification of Occupations', in An Introduction to English
Historical Demography, ed. by E. A. Wrigley (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966), (p. 272); Rose,'Official Social Classifications in the Uk'.
401

106

could indicate a member of the gentry employing staff, owning much land andsomeone to whom, “members of the cottage community, had to pay suitable
salutation to…in the form of a doffed cap or a small, bobbing curtsey from the girls”.402
At the other end of the spectrum, a farmer could denote a smallholder barely making aliving, with no employees and only a few acres. The farmer in the sample is William
Andrews, and my research indicates that he farmed thirty-six acres and employed adomestic servant, and his adult children, listed as ‘farmer’s son’ and ‘farmer’s
daughter’,403 possibly indicates that they worked and were supported by the farm.
Accordingly, occupational classifications should be taken as an indicative guide only.
Nevertheless, the results show that musical skill and interest was spread over a rangeof occupational classes, from the farmer and musician in class II to unskilled labourers
in class V. Furthermore, ‘skilled labourers’ comprise more than half of the occupations.
At the same time, the majority of the compilers of music manuscripts come fromoccupational classes III, IV and V or the ‘working classes’ (Figure 43).
III-V (Skilled,
Semi-skilled andUnskilled Labour)
II (Lower
Professionals,
Farmers etc)
I (Top Stratum)

Figure 43 : The dominance of the lower occupational classes shown as a pie-chart.

Analysis of Key Characteristics
The following section addresses the key characteristics in turn, putting forward
suggestions as to their role in supporting the compilation of manuscripts.
Age and Marital Status
The wider sample of manuscript sources shows the majority of compilers to be
married (or soon to be wed), men in their twenties, and this is largely paralleled in thethree case-studies. New musical trends often appeal to younger members of society,402

Copper, A Song for Every Season, p. 22.
'William Andrews', 1881 England Census Return (Class: RG11; Piece: 2219; Folio: 48; Page: 1; GSU roll:1341535), <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 20 March 2018].
403

107

and the desire to keep up with modern, popular music and to build up a personalrepertoire from new publications may have been a motivating factor. A contemporary
narrative from the mid-nineteenth-century corroborates the relationship between age
and new tunes and skills: “At that time the young people were not satisfied withlearning a few tunes, they wished to read the music themselves”.404 Musical literacy,
which would also facilitate transcribing, was likely the key to a wide repertoire.
Thompson’s depiction of pub singing in Lark Rise to Candleford corroborates myfindings relating to age (and also gender), with the younger men’s repertoire
dominated by more modern, popular material: “’boy-chaps’, as they were called until
they were married…usually had the first innings with such songs of the day as had
percolated so far”.405 So too, Roud indicates that between “fourteen and twentyfour…was the key age for youngsters to seek out the ‘latest’ songs”.406 It would beinteresting to know whether manuscripts written by older members of the communityfrom the same period contained a repertoire of older popular music.407
Copying or transcribing music would likely have taken place by candlelight, after a longday of manual work, and young men could have enjoyed the advantages of better
eyesight and physical health, fewer family commitments, perhaps combined with thedesire to impress a girl. Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck, and possibly Hampton, began
their manuscripts the year before they were married. For those newly married,financial reasons could have rendered manuscript copying, rather than purchasing
print, a cost-effective way to support their musical activity, and continue to expand
their interests.
Furthermore, the period in question coincides with the autodidactic movement whichappealed to young married men attempting to better themselves by acquiring new
skills, as may have been the case with the relationship between Thomas Hampton and404

Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 180.
Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 69.
406
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 359.
407
The problem with attempting to conduct such a study is that there are too few to examine. I did lookat the only manuscript from the 70-79 age range in the wider sample. It was written by Henry Stables
and although the manuscript is dated 1881 the tunes in it closely resemble the repertoire found in the
Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck case-studies. This would suggest he was writing down tunes which were
popular when he was middle aged rather than tunes which were popular to him as a youth, or tunes
which were contemporary to him in 1881. Alternatively it could suggest that the repertoire found in
Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck remained popular across several decades.
405

108

Walter Soobroy. Setting up home as a young, newly married man might also explain
the predominance of manuscripts deriving from this demographic. Leaving their
existing musical resources behind, perhaps in oral/aural or printed form or anotherfamily member’s manuscript or printed tunebook, the manuscripts enable thecompilers to take their own set of tunes with them, possibly their favourites or thosethey intended to learn.
Equally, the observable demographic trend might be merely the result of an overall
growth in music-making in England from the mid-nineteenth-century onwards.
According to some historians this was the result of the introduction of the sol-fa
singing method. Russell argues that this is an exaggeration,408 and yet a journalist
writing for the Musical Times in 1887 recalled how “the desire to study music spread
like a wave over the country, affecting secluded hamlets, as well as conspicuous
cities”.409 Although this refers to sol-fa singing, budding instrumentalists were perhaps
inspired to acquire or improve their musical skills, stimulated by the extent of musicalactivity in their community.
GenderAll the compilers of manuscripts studied here were men. This trend is reflected in thewider folk music literature,410 and in popular musical practice too.411 Photographs andnarratives of amateur bands and musicians constantly refer solely to men, and one canpresume that this might be attributed to working-class women’s “domestic obligations
and cultural prescriptions”.412 To learn and practise a musical skill, acquire musicalliteracy and copy tunes is a time-consuming business.
Moreover, location may have restricted the opportunity for women’s involvement.
Oral narratives describe how the pub was not a place for women even well into the408

Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 28.
Ibid.
410
Boyes, The Imagined Village : Culture, Ideology and the English Folk Revival, p. 28. Hall, 'Scan Tester "I
Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 26 & 74. That said, it must be acknowledged that Roudlists women singers as being informants for the early collectors: Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 639. So
too he discusses women’s involvement in concert rooms: ibid. p. 355.
411
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 11. Scott, The Singing Bourgeois :Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 41.
412
Russell used this phrase to explain women’s absence from Music Hall audiences: Russell, PopularMusic in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 92.
409

109

twentieth-century.413 While this was not necessarily an act of exclusion forced upon
women, it would limit their contact with musical activities existing within a pub
culture. Additionally, autodidactic institutions such as Mechanics’ Institutes andTemperance Clubs, a potential route to musical literacy, influence, participation andtechnical skill, were male-dominated until the late-nineteenth-century.414
The historical record generally appears to exclude women as instrumentalists andmanuscript compilers, yet it is important to acknowledge that women did share insome musical activity. From the lower sections of society, women participated inmusic-making in the form of singing and dancing at home. Due to its informal domestic
nature it is poorly documented but scholars have recorded examples of nineteenthcentury working-class women participating in this manner.415 Women from middleclass families favoured pianos, and partook in the more aspirational Drawing-roomgenre.416 There is evidence of some of these women having compiled handwritten
manuscripts of their repertoire, but their relative scarcity suggests that most used
printed collections.417 While the medium of their manuscripts may be consistent withthose in this study, they represent a different musical practice. It is possible thatwomen were equal to men in number of instrumentalists and manuscript compilers,
yet specific factors resulted in the lack of survival of their manuscripts. However,during my research I have encountered only eight manuscripts potentially compiled by
women.418 Furthermore, without examining each of the manuscripts it is impossible to413

Chris Holderness, 'Hindringham. Traditional Music and Dancing in This North Norfolk Village. Mt285',
Musical Traditions (2013) <http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/hindring.htm> [accessed 23 April2017].Paragraph 10., Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215'.pp. 73-75; ibid.
414
Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, 2nd edn, (London and New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2010), p. 18.
415
Holderness, 'Hindringham. Traditional Music and Dancing in This North Norfolk Village. Mt285'; Paul
Sartin, 'The Songs of Edith Sartin of Corscombe' (Newcastle University, 2005); ibid. Roud, Folk Song in
England, pp. 637-41.
416
Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour; Scott, Sounds of theMetropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna;
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History; Pearsall, Victorian Popular Music.
417
For example the Benwell MS examined by Campbell in his PhD thesis: Campbell, 'Reconsidering andContextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British Manuscript Compilations (16502000)'.
418
From the extant manuscripts spanning 1800-1899 (totalling 131 manuscripts ), only six can be
attributed to women: Miss Best, Jane Bell, Jean Doey (possibly a French male rather than English
female), Annie Herne, Eliza Tennyson, and Ann Winnington. The number could be larger if unnamed or
initialled manuscripts belonged to women. Likewise, the number could be smaller if the archive, when
examined showed many to be for piano.

110determine whether these would fall under the definition of the archive, or rather into
the piano-centric Drawing-room genre mentioned above.
Environment
Most of the compilers lived in rural areas. On the surface, it might seem obvious thatthe scarcity of music shops in small villages and hamlets would restrict rural dwellers’
access to resources, thus promoting a self-sufficient manuscript culture. However, myresearch found that in general, the contents of the manuscripts were copied fromcommercial printed sources issued by the London publishing houses.419 That thesepublished sources were reaching the rural compilers casts doubt on Bearman’s
argument concerning the remoteness of rural people.420 The repertoire of themanuscripts indicates that both older and contemporary tunes were circulating withinrural areas, despite received wisdom concerning the contrast “between the music ofurban culture and that of rural culture”.421 Nor, it seems, was this a new phenomenon
as exemplified by Benjamin Rose’s manuscript of 1820:
it is at least intriguing that the repertoire of a country musician in earlynineteenth century Dorset, who lived all his life in the same remote ruralparish, should contain so many tunes with titles that recall contemporary
metropolitan life and foreign campaigns and battles.422
It is clear that from mid-century a definitive divide between rural and urban did notexist. Rural dwellers could travel to the expanding towns for employment,423 thus
merging the boundaries of their everyday existence. There is much evidence thatpeople regularly walked long distances, in addition to having access to carriers, canals,
railways and omnibuses, providing access not only to musical commodities andfashions but also to entertainment venues.424

419

See Chapter 4.
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', p. 772.
421
Richard Sykes, 'The Evolution of Englishness in the English Folksong Revival, 1890-1914', Folk Music
Journal, 6. 4 (1993), 446-90 (p. 448).
422
Thompson and Laycock, Benjamin's Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of BenjaminRose, p. 10.
423
Alan Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', Histoire Sociale Social History,
10. 20 (1977), (p. 360) <http://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/38573/34988>[accessed 24 April 2017].
424
See Chapters 5 and 6.
420

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That said, access to resources would not necessarily be readily affordable for thissection of the population. My research suggests that once the printed copy of a tune
had reached the rural areas, a borrowing culture was in place. This could operate
either informally or more formally through establishments such as MCLs, and it would
account for a higher number of manuscripts emanating from rural areas.425
A greater concentration of manuscripts in rural areas could also result from thecontinuity and evolution of the instrumental tradition following the decline of thechurch bands, 426 so evocatively described by Hardy in Under the Greenwood Tree.427
Through involvement in the bands, some members of the community would have beenequipped with the necessary musical literacy and technical skill to compile
manuscripts. Both Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett manuscripts provide evidence of older
Anglican church music. A link to the past such as this could impart a particular value tothe manuscripts, leading to a higher survival rate compared with manuscripts fromurban environments. Similarly, one might argue that there were fewer manuscripts
compiled in urban settings because there was more mass public entertainment
available in the towns, and therefore less emphasis on personal music-making.
Gammon argues that around the mid-century, more regulated, institutionalised musicmaking came to the fore, leading to “a contraction and sometimes an obliteration of
the autonomous, self-regulated and informal traditions of the past”.428 The influenceof institutionalised bands can be seen in for example, the Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett
manuscripts. The evidence suggests that a rural environment does produce, or at least
supports the survival of, more manuscripts than an urban environment. But it must not
be assumed that the manuscripts are representative only of a rural culture, or that therepertoire they contain was of rural origins.
Occupation and class
Bearman maintains that “the attempt to define folk song and its singers in class terms
must be dismissed as a failure”.429 The foregoing discussion has already acknowledged
425

MCLs form the nature of discussion in Chapter 6.
As discussed by Gammon and Hardy: Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914';
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England'; Hardy, Under theGreenwood Tree.
427
Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree.
428
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 18.
429
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', p. 765.
426

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the controversy surrounding class in relation to the historiography of folk music. To
clarify, I am not defining the manuscript archive or its contents by social class, butrather using the compilers’ occupations as a means to uncover key trends, and toprovide a snapshot in time.
Whilst the manuscript compilers came chiefly from the lower levels of society that was
not uniformly so, suggesting that the manuscripts represent the product of a musicalpractice, rather than of a social class. That said, the manuscripts clearly had an
important place in the lives and culture of the labouring classes. VMP’s archive ofmusic manuscripts avoids any specific mention of the ‘working class’, preferring theterm ‘artisan classes’ to describe the manuscript compilers.430 In fact, they describe themanuscript compilers as emanating from the higher social classes, contrary to myfindings:
The people who wrote down these tunes were generally educated and literate
people with some available leisure time. Some of them were people who canbe identified in history. Eliza Tennyson was Alfred Lord T’s mother. There’s abook written down by reformer Robert Dale Owen and another by poet John
Clare. Another belonged to Grace Darling’s father. Others belonged to theartisan classes – gentlemen farmers, a paper maker, an architect, shoemaker,
alehouse keeper, parish clerk, vicar, generally people who had some leisuretime and the money to afford an instrument and access to printed music toexpand their repertoire.431
There is no mention here of labourers.432 VMP does not specify a time period and themarked contrast with my findings is perhaps due to the consideration of manuscripts
from different periods. Similarly, Pendlebury states that the majority of manuscript
compilers “were born into, or entered, the middle classes”,433 they “were members of
the professional classes”.434 Pendlebury does not define her chronological boundaries
and lists historical manuscripts from the seventeen-century through to the twentiethcentury.435 Her discussion of occupation and class focuses on earlier manuscripts and430

The Village Music Project, 'Manuscripts'.
Ibid.
432
John Clare was a labourer and writing poetry did not in itself elevate him in class terms. My point isthat the Village Music Project’s naming him as a poet (alongside Lord Tennyson) seems to imply that he
was of higher status.
433
Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes of Britain and Ireland',p. 63.
434
Ibid. pp. 205-06.
435
Ibid. pp. 253-62.
431

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stops at approximately 1850. The one later manuscript referenced in her study, that ofHenry Watson, dated 1883, is more directly comparable with my manuscripts, andPendlebury observes that he “appears to have had a more artisan livelihood, having
been a Norfolk labourer and brick-maker”.436 While perhaps side-stepping folk
connotations in order that the manuscripts might be taken more seriously in thecontext of wider musical dialogue, these descriptions might be seen as an interesting
and unsettling reaction against the twentieth-century historiography of folk music.
The wider survey of manuscript compilers’ occupations spans four of the five
occupational categories, and to this extent reflects Bearman’s description of Sharp’s
informants as “individuals representing a fairly wide social range, from prosperous
farmers and tradesmen on the one hand, to labourers and workhouse inmates on theother”.437 However, as we saw, the large majority belonged to the groups of skilled,semi-skilled, or unskilled labourers. This is in line with Roud’s criteria:
For our purposes and in our time frame, ‘ordinary people’ means more or lessthe majority, the working classes, with the proviso that it often includes therespectable upper end of the worker spectrum such as shopkeepers and skilledworkers.438
The three case-studies are likewise drawn from the lower three occupationalclassifications. Till/Clutterbuck was an agricultural labourer (V), Hampton a generallabourer / skinner (V), Soobroy a brush maker’s assistant (IV) and Bennett a blacksmith(III).
Bennett falls into the largest occupational group of compilers from the wider survey ofcompilers, which accords with Gammon’s findings about the occupations of membersof church bands, “although farm labourers are significant in village choirs and bands it
is from the artisan tradesmen that they significantly drew their strength”.439 As
proposed above, the remnants and influence of these declining instrumental church
436

Ibid. p. 64.
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', p. 765.
438
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27. Admittedly a ‘crude stereotype’, Roud’s definition opposes‘ordinary people’ to the middle classes, who “tended towards other repertoires specifically designed forthem, and played their pianos from sheet music”. While his description matches my findings, I would
take issue with this opposition in relation to tunes. Much of the instrumental repertoire is shared with
the Drawing-room genre Roud is describing. It is the specific sources and the monophonic nature of thematerial that differentiates the musical practices.
439
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 31.
437

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bands may have contributed to the higher numbers of manuscripts stemming from arural and working-class background.440
Till/Clutterbuck and Hampton’s occupations as unskilled labourers set them slightly
apart from the evidence in the wider sample at the lowest end of the demographic
scale, but reflects Gammon’s findings that the larger proportion of Sussex folk singers
from whom the early twentieth-century collectors sourced their tunes, were from “thepoorest levels of rural society”.441 The economic benefit for such lower earners incompiling a manuscript rather than purchasing printed music are clear enough. Much
evidence of Hampton’s meagre income and modest existence can be drawn from themanuscript itself and is discussed in Chapter 6.
Finally, the higher proportion of manuscripts stemming from occupational groups III, IV
and V can be ascribed simply to working classes making up the majority of the
population.442 This section of the population saw a massive growth of amateur musicmaking due variously to financial improvements, mass production, increased leisuretime and the growing self-improvement movement. It is perhaps unsurprising to find alarger number of manuscripts originating from this section of society.
It is important not to judge the level of musical activity or the number of musicians
who participated in this musical practice by the number of extant manuscripts.
Notwithstanding the obvious implications of manuscript survival thwarting thestatistics, there are likely numerous other vernacular musicians who remain
undocumented, leaving no legacy. One important factor is that the music andmusicians were largely from the three lower classes whose history is less documented
and recorded. Heath-Coleman,443 Hall,444 Holderness,445 Chandler et al,446 have written
biographies of many musicians, frequently based on oral narratives and depicting often
440This is considered further in Chapter 6.
Vic Gammon, 'Folk Song Collecting in Sussex and Surrey, 1843-1914', History Workshop, 10 (1980),
61-89 (p. 64).
442
Altick quotes nineteenth century economist Dudley Baxter’s 1867 report stating that out of 9.8
million recipients of income, 200,000 were upper and middle class, 1.85 million lower-middle class and7.78 million working class (including 1.1 million skilled labourers): Richard D. Altick, The English Common
Reader, 3rd edn, (Chicago & London: Phoenix Books The University of Chicago Press, 1967), p. 82.
443
Heath-Coleman, Stephen Baldwin 'Here's One You'll Like, I Think'.
444
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215'.
445
Holderness, 'Hindringham. Traditional Music and Dancing in This North Norfolk Village. Mt285'.
446
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'.
441

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musically illiterate musicians, who come from classes III, IV and V. Their musicalactivities are not recorded in newspapers or history books, or traceable through any
extant manuscripts. Articles such as these describe a rich and vibrant musicalsoundscape and it is probable that many more musicians who participated in thismusical practice and their manuscripts existed, of which we have lost all knowledge.

Participants in Folk Music Tradition?
Contrasting acutely with the received notion that folk music is found “in the minds andvoices of the elderly”,447 youth has emerged as a key factor in both the wider sample
and the case-studies. It is noteworthy the manuscripts and wider literature indicatethat the musical taste of these younger men inclined towards modern, new repertoire
rather than the more historic, traditional items which were performed by the elderly
men.448 Considered from a received historical viewpoint, this would set the musiciansapart from being participants in folk music tradition. However, modern discourse does
not consider participants’ age to be a defining factor in folk music tradition. Moreover,the modernity of repertoire favoured by the younger participants is also not a defining
factor when tradition is viewed as a process. Gammon states that fiddler, Michael
Turner, “in social function was a traditional musician regardless of the exact mixture of‘traditional’ or composed pieces he performed”.449
With regards to gender, men dominated in both the wider popular, vernacular music
field and in the musical practice represented in the manuscripts. Thus, it is hard to use
gender as a defining factor when assessing the place of the manuscripts in folk music
tradition. So too, differentiating between the two musical practices which share thesame manuscript medium (the aforementioned, female dominated, Drawing-roomgenre, and instrumental vernacular music), may not be especially helpful indetermining ‘place’. However, the distinction is important in order to observe thesocial contrast between the two practices, highlighting the substantial dominance ofmen in instrumental musical activities of a more vernacular nature.

447

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27. This view is potentially caused or amplified by the early-twentiethcentury collectors’ focus on collecting from the elderly ‘remnants of the peasantry’: Sharp, English Folk
Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 4.
448
Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 69. Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 323.
449
Gammon, 'Michael Turner. A 19th Century Sussex Fiddler (Mt068)'.

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Folk music has been defined as an antonym of urban, popular, commercial music,450
and the dominance of manuscripts from rural locations would fit with the received
perception of folk musics’ pastoral origins.451 However, despite fitting in withperceived notions of the rurality of folk music, the dominance of manuscripts fromrural areas cannot necessarily be used to justify their inclusion in folk music tradition,
especially with the large number of popular, modern tunes which would, in the term ofreceived history, negate such an inclusion. Modern interpretations propose thatgeographical location of either performance or origin of material is un-important, andaccept that popular music stemming from urban domains is capable of ‘becoming’ partof the process of folk music tradition, resulting from subsequent selection andsurvival.452 Thus the dominance of manuscripts from rural areas neither strengthens
nor negates the place of the manuscripts in folk music tradition. The occupationalclasses of the compilers fit with both the received history of folk music representing“peasant music”,453 belonging to “the common people”,454 and current thinking, asmusic from “ordinary” people.455 These findings contrast with the popular musicpractice shown in the surviving manuscripts of the Drawing-room genre,456 which
belonged chiefly to women and more importantly here, to those from higher social
classes.

Conclusion
Hampton, Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett fit quite closely with the wider survey of otherpost-1850 manuscripts: young, married, rural men pursuing a labouring-classoccupation. A definition in received historic terms would suggest that the compilers’repertoire, age and above all, literate ability differed from those associated with folk
music tradition, yet other characteristics concerning rurality, gender and occupation
conform to such a definition. However, in modern scholarly terms, where
orality/aurality, textual transmission and origin are of little importance, these young,‘ordinary’ men conform to current scholarly ideas of the ‘folk’. That these young men
450

See Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music” : Emerging Categories from Ossian to
Wagner. (Chapter 8).
451
Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 4.
452
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 24 & 671.
453
Bela Bartok, 'Hungarian Peasant Music', The Musical Quarterly, 19. 3 (1933), 267-87.
454
Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 3.
455
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27.
456
See section entitled ‘Gender’, above.

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recorded both old and new repertoire in their tunebooks is important. Thompson’s
passage quoted above is used by Roud to illustrate the process of tradition in a mixed
age group of musicians and repertoire:
The young, the middle-aged and the old share the same performance space.
They have partly differing repertoires. But each hears the songs of the others,
and the young men, in particular, however partial they are to their ‘new’material, hear and learn the older songs. By the time they become middle-aged
themselves they have a potentially broad repertoire drawn from several
periods, and each successive generation has the opportunity to perpetuate theitems they like.457
The content of the tunebooks is the focus of Chapter 3, but Roud’s indication that “it is
not the origin of a song which makes it ‘folk’, but what the ‘folk’ do with it”,458 showsthat the process of selection and survival carried out by these young, rural, workingclass men makes them instrumental in the formation of folk music tradition.

457
458

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 323.
Ibid. p. 23.

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Chapter 3- Repertoire ‘…how wide and deep their roots’459
Turning attention to the content of the manuscript books and following Dean-Smith’s
approach to tunes in Playford’s English Dancing Master, I set out to discover “…howwide and deep their roots”.460 The intention was two-fold. The first and most complex
aim was to ascertain the ‘depth’, or origin of the tunes. This was not done to create theperception that some tunes were more authentic than others but carried out toobserve trends in the repertoire. The second aim was to determine the scope of thecompilers’ repertoire, by examining the ‘width’ or breadth of the content.
Researching and categorising the tunes was a lengthy and not un-problematic exercise
and the chapter begins by giving a detailed explanation of the approach taken.461 The
next section provides the results of the research, revealing that the manuscripts
contained a mix of older historic tunes combined with a modern repertoire andspanned a wide range of genres from quadrilles and minstrel song to jigs andhornpipes. The results from the individual case-studies are looked at in turn, andselected items are considered in more depth to provide an essence of the material
found in the tunebooks. The results are then combined to look for wider trends. The
next section draws upon examples from the manuscripts and explores contextual
influences from the wider nineteenth-century soundscape which may explain theselection of specific repertoire.462 The subsequent section draws out two specificgenres, ‘Art’ music and ‘Historic’ for closer examination, and the manuscripts’
repertoire in relation to folk music tradition is discussed in the final section.

Methodology – a note on Boundaries and Classification
The approach taken in this chapter requires further justification, partly due to thecentral role it plays in the thesis, but also to minimise subjectivity. The results shown inthis and the next chapter are the consequence of detailed research carried out on eachtune shown in Appendix A. The research is summarised and documented in Appendix
459

Dean-Smith, Playford's English Dancing Master 1651. A Facsimile Reprint with an Introduction,
Bibliography and Notes, p. xx.
460
Ibid., and see below.
461
Due to the specific detail in methodological approach I felt it was better placed within this chapter
than in the methodology overview in Chapter 1.
462
Aside from external auditory influence, the choice of repertoire would have been greatly influenced
by the function and motivation of the musicians.These areas of repertoire are dealt with in Chapter 5,
where tune types (for example hornpipes) are examined in the discussion of outward transmission fromthe manuscripts.

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B. Dean-Smith’s introduction to Playford’s English Dancing Master, helped shape myapproach:
The purpose of the present recension…is…to present for the first time afacsimile of the original, so that its musical typography can be seen: to put
forward some suggestions concerning its place, and that of its creator...and, by
the annotations to the tunes to show how long-lasting are these English
melodies, and how wide and deep their roots.463
Originally, Appendix A included detailed textual annotations including tunecommentaries, source studies and histories to each tune. With one hundred andninety tunes under consideration this resulted in a substantial body of work. The
results of this analysis were crucial to the overriding critical argument and aresummarised in Appendix B. The detailed textual annotations were interesting and gavea fascinating insight into each tune and its associated printed sources, yet theindividual detail of each tune’s research was not necessarily required in the main
thrust of the argument. As such, the detailed individual tune analyses and annotation
which made up the original edition of Appendix A were archived.464 Significant or
noteworthy aspects of tunes are drawn out in the discussion of the individual casestudy results below or used as illustrative examples or supporting evidence to wider
arguments throughout the thesis.
Together, Appendices A and B become a central reference point for the thesis and are
integral in two key ways. The pictorial evidence in Appendix A provides a visual andtangible link to enhance the understanding and context, and the data in Appendix B
shows the results of a detailed and on-going archival research journey, commenced in
May 2014, occurring both online, with printed tune books, other manuscript books,
and via a week-long intensive visit to the British Library in October 2016.
I used a number of key texts, manuscripts, websites and printed musical resources to
identify tunes and trace their history in order to classify by genre, origins and assess
the type of sources to which the compiler might have had access. References weresearched both looking backwards, chronologically, to find the earliest reference to thetune and horizontally in search of a direct source used by the compiler when putting
463

Dean-Smith, Playford's English Dancing Master 1651. A Facsimile Reprint with an Introduction,
Bibliography and Notes, p. xx.
464
Plans to publish this work online are ongoing.

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his collection together. This caused some issues as although there is an established set
or canon of key printed publications from earlier in the century,465 none exists for post1850s.466 Untitled tunes presented a further difficulty as they were not always able tobe traced and identified and in some cases, remain an ongoing project. Campbell
included incipits for tunes found in Campbell 1 manuscript,467 as do Shepherd andShepherd in the second volume of the Jackson manuscript,468 although there is no one
established methodology,469 so the usefulness is limited.
‘Depth’Initially, I researched the tune histories for all tunes as far as was possible. The main
genre distinction emerging was in the difference between what might be called ahistoric or traditional melody,470 with a newly composed, popular, more ephemeral
style of melody,471 yet a definitive, objective distinction was not possible. Hall
recognises the issue when classing nineteenth-century printed dance music into two
broad categories of essentially popular construction and traditional construction. He
states that, “a polarised typology…is a useful tool for analysis, but oversimplification
carries with it dangers, and it should be understood there are gradations between
these two extremes”.472
It became apparent that classification was a complicated and contentious area notleast because of the problems surrounding an appropriate definition for folk music.
Clear, defining parameters needed to be set for this area of the research. Firstly, I
identified genres of tunes (carols, religious music, art music and pedagogic items)
465

Partington, Email; Chris Partington, Email Correspondence (24 January 2016).
Rather than the dozen or so eighteenth and seventeenth-century printed tunebooks providing thecore material (for example Rutherford, Walsh, Preston, Thompson, etc.), the sources of the compilers’tunes are comprised numerous, smaller, mass-produced tune collection publications which are notcatalogued nor in many cases even contain a ‘Content’ page at the beginning of each individual
publication, causing extensive research problems. This is very much an unknown ‘archive’ or body ofprinted music books.
467
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 390.
468
Shepherd and Shepherd, Mr Joshua Jackson Book 1798 : Tunes, Songs & Dances from the Manuscriptof a Yorkshire Corn Miller and Musician Volume Two, p. 115.
469
For example, Campbell writes his incipits to start on the note ‘c’ and ‘g’, whereas Jackson’s are alltransposed into the key of C.
470
For example, a more simple structure conforming to an AABB dance structure, essentially diatonic
with few embellishments, etc.
471
For example, identified musically by a freer structure, including ornamentation, chromaticism andmodulation, etc.
472
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 83.
466

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which had a specific definable genre and categorised them accordingly. In this part ofthe data analysis I was not concerned with the provenance of these specific genres.473 I
labelled these groups as follows: carols (category 4), religious music,474 (category 5),
art music (category 6),475 pedagogic (category 7), and ‘other’,476 (category 8).477 The
remaining tunes (the bulk of the content), were the focus of the ‘depth’ categorisation.
These are the tunes which some might prefer to give contentious genre labels such as
folk, traditional or popular. As these were terms I was at pains to avoid in this part of
the analysis due to the subjective interpretations through history and personal
perspective, I needed to discard these labels. Instead I chose to define the remaining
tunes according to synchronic ‘date’ categories, creating three time-specificclassifications: pre-1750 (category 1), titled ‘Historic’, 1750-1830 (category 2), entitled‘Early’, and ‘Late’, post 1830 (category 3). The justification behind the specific time
periods is to enable distinction between older melodies from those which emanatefrom the later-eighteenth-century comic and ballad operas and pantomimes. The final
date category comprises tunes that are approximately contemporaneous with thecompilers including composed parlour, musichall and minstrel song tunes. It is possiblethat some of the later tunes may have had origins or influence from earlier tunes,478
but as I was attempting to establish the history of the tune in the form in which itappeared in the manuscript this did not affect the classification.

473

The chief focus of this part of the analysis was to untangle the bulk of dance and song melodies which
are in danger of being assumed to be classed by the indefinable term of ‘folk’ music.
474
This refers to religious items found in the main body of the manuscript but excluding the complete
sections of sacred content existing in the manuscripts of both Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett, which aredealt with specifically in Chapters 5 and 6.
475
It became clear that the examples of ‘Art Music’ (6) were not ‘pure’ art music in the sense that thecompilers were taking the tunes directly from classical music. As explored in the ‘Art Music’ section
below, the examples in the manuscripts were contemporary arrangements printed extensively in thecollections aimed specifically at this amateur monophonic music practice. Despite the tunes comingfrom the same sources as much of the other content and were contemporary popular arrangements ofart music I decided to keep them separate to aid clarification as their genre was already clear anddefined. Arguably they could have been included in category 3, but I did not simply want themconcealed within the ‘Later Dance and Song Melody’, group as this would not have been helpful. I did
not want to be accused of statistical manipulation by those thinking I was out to discredit the ‘folkiness’of the manuscripts by deliberately obscuring category 3.
476‘Other’ was not intended as a ‘catch-all’ category but for those pages on which non-sensical or nonmusical jottings were made. Only one item was classed as category 8.
477
The provenance of these tunes in context to the compilers (i.e. whether they were coming fromcontemporary or historic sources), would be assessed as part of the second stage.
478
See below with reference to ‘Historic Tunes in Contemporary Settings.’

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The ternary system I employed incorporates the concept of tradition as a process. It
has benefits in providing a greater level of detail than employing a simpler binary
differentiator to comply with the ‘two generation’ rule.479 The end date parameter ofcategory 2 (1830) suggests that tunes originating, or in use at that time, would beselected by musicians likely born around the turn of the century.480 Thus, the heuristic
principle requiring an approximate gap of two generations is all but satisfied by thetime the compilers were using the melodies in the 1860s, 1870s and onwards. As suchtunes from categories 1 and 2 can be considered to be over two generations old.
Many tunes were untraceable and classification decisions were made based on stylistic
analysis, and are open to differing interpretations. For example, tunes with a complex
structure, large melodic range, use of chromaticism, modulation etc., appeared more
modern in construct and were classed as such. However, the tune could have been
historic and just not conformed to an expected pattern. It would be easy to accept thatthe classification definitions do not work, and the tunes cannot be neatlycompartmentalised. However, the assimilation of the popular and publishedcontemporary melodies and the difference between these and the older tunes is key
to our understanding of the history of nineteenth-century vernacular music-making.
Further, the comparative content analysis is integral to the thesis and necessary inorder to answer the research questions and to consider how the manuscripts are
situated in folk music tradition. Arguably I take an “obsessively genre-centric”,481
approach, but to observe any visible trends and establish the extent of repertoire
played by these musicians, distinctions between the different tunes had to be made.
In an attempt to be transparent and impartial, I sub-divided each of the categories. In
cases where evidence did not exist to enable a definitive classification, I made clear
where an educated, yet subjective judgement was applied. Three sub-categories werecreated to indicate this, named ‘Deemed Historic Dance or Song Melody’, ‘Deemed
Early Dance or Song Melody’ and ‘Deemed Later Dance or Song Melody’. A further
category (3X) was added at analysis stage to distinguish tunes which I did not feel479

See Chapter 1.
This is based on the evidence from Chapter 2 which found the largest age group of compilers was 2029 years old.
481
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 145.
480

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confident about categorising. This group chiefly comprised hornpipes whose origins as‘newly’ composed examples from the first half of the nineteenth-century, or withmuch earlier origins,482 could not be ascertained. Figure 44 shows these different
categories.
1aHistoric
Dance orSong
Melody(Pre1750)

1b
DeemedHistoric
Dance orSong
Melody(Pre-1750)

2a
Early
Dance orSong
Melody(17511829)

2b
DeemedEarly
Dance orSong
Melody(17511829)

3a
Later
Dance orSong
Melody(18301899)

3b
DeemedLater
Dance orSong
Melody(18301899)

3x
To include
1b,2b,3bwhere aconclusive
decision
could notbe madeFigure 44 : 'Depth' categories.

I devised a flow-chart (Figure 45), to use when categorising the ‘depth’ of a tune.

482

This is discussed in more depth in Chapter 5.

124

Figure 45 : A flowchart to show the 'Depth' categories.

125

‘Width’
Similar categorisation issues occurred when sorting tunes into dance types to consider
the ‘width’ or breadth of the tunes. For example, tunes in 2/4 could be polkas, quick
steps, galops or a tune forming part of a quadrille dance set. Reels, normally written in
4/4 were also found written and printed in 2/4.483 4/4 tunes could comprise different
dance types including hornpipes and marches. Hornpipes, usually in 4/4, can often be
identified by a dotted rhythm, but not always and despite being named as a hornpipe,
the tune would look like a reel or a march. If an untitled 4/4 tune is written un-dotted I
might decide the tune has the ‘feel’ of a hornpipe, yet another fiddle player may
disagree and argue it is much more like a march.
Moreover, titles from early publications or manuscripts are not reliable as indicators oftype. Dean-Smith points out that, “until the early 19th century the terms jig, hornpipe
and reel were used interchangeably, as none of them was a distinct form in either styleor rhythm”.484 An example can be found in ‘Del Caro's Hornpipe’ from the Hughes
manuscript which is written in 2/4 whereas a hornpipe would be expected to be
written in 4/4 (or 3/2).485 Similarly, there are instances where the same tune occurs in
different manuscripts, notated in different time signatures. Furthermore, more
modern dance sets such as quadrilles contain tunes in both 6/8 and 2/4 (some ofwhich are traditional and some of which are newly composed). The decision to classthese as quadrilles or to class each tune individually, as jigs and polkas or quick steps
will give different results.
Gammon acknowledges these categorisation problems stating,time signatures are a good guide to the classification of dance tunes but the
specific characteristics of the tune must be considered before it can be said tobe set in a particular dance rhythm. For example a 4/4 time signature can imply
a hornpipe, a march or a reel,486

483

See for example Ham.4.2 where Hampton transcribes ‘Lady Mack Reel’ in 2/4, which appears to havebeen copied from a printed version, also in 2/4. S. Jones, Hopwood & Crew's 100 Country Dances for theViolin, Arranged by S. Jones.London, [1875] Music Collections E.269.(3.), (London: Hopwood & Crew,c1875).
484
Margaret Dean-Smith, 'Jig', Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/14307> [accessed September 15,2015)].
485
Edward Hughes, Edward Hughes Music Manuscript Book, 40358 (Bristol Archives, 1811).
486
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 62.

126

thus introducing subjectivity to seemingly quantifiable data. In the re-publication of
Rose’s manuscript, Thompson organises the contents into tune type,487 andacknowledges the issues faced and subjective decisions taken.488 Callaghan also notes
the difficulty, commenting on the element of stylistic performance which can define atune: “Grouping tunes into types is always difficult; the more so since many tunes canbe coaxed into very different shapes and rhythms”.489
This area remained problematic to me for some time, and it was not until I had
discovered from where the compilers were sourcing the majority of the tunes (Chapter4), and the extent to which they relied on this source material (rather than original
provenance), that I decided to assign the identifications given by the contemporary
source material. Whilst not wholly adequate, it made sense to apply contextual
categorisations as laid out by the contemporary publishers. This resulted in theeighteen classifications shown in Figure 46, based on the tune or book collection titles
offered by the publishers.
Carol
Country Dance
Galop
Hornpipe
Hymn
March

Minstrel SongOpera
Pedagogic
Polka
Popular Ballad
Quadrille / Lancer

Quick Step
Reel
Schottische
National Air,490
Varsoviana
Waltz

Figure 46 : 'Width' categories.

By drawing attention to the difficulties I encountered, and by defining my terms,
methods and reasoning, I believe I have achieved an acceptable and workable scheme.
The results are summarised in Appendix B, and their relevance discussed in thefollowing section.
487

The reason for this approach is presumably to make the book accessible as a performance copy forcurrent dance musicians.
488
Thompson offers thanks to “John Offord for his assistance in tune categorisation, not least forpatiently listening to me play all the tunes”, Thompson and Laycock, Benjamin's Book : The Complete
Country Dance Manuscript of Benjamin Rose, p. 68.
489
Barry Callaghan, Hardcore English, (London: English Folk Dance & Song Society, 2007), p. 8.
490
Although the use of ‘National’ brings with it connotations (see earlier), this was the term employedby the contemporary publishers to describe songs which the publishers tended to associate with a
specific country hence the term was used in the research as a category heading. Gelbart observes thatthe term ‘National’ was a precursor to folk. Pegg, too, suggests that during the nineteenth-century,“’folk’ was used as a synonym for ‘nation’”. For more exploration into the contemporaneous use of theterm ‘National’ see: Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music” : Emerging Categories from
Ossian to Wagner; Roud, Folk Song in England.

127

Repertoire in the Manuscripts
The following section summarises both the width and depth of the content in eachmanuscript and draws out a selection of tunes in more detail to provide a flavour ofthe content of the manuscripts. Although not covering all tunes found in the Hampton,
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett tunebooks, the summaries aim to give an essence of themanuscripts’ contents, particularly concerning items which do not make up part of themain discussion and used to illustrate points throughout the thesis.
Hampton MS c1870
The manuscript contains a thorough mix of repertoire, spanning contemporary popularsongs and dances, with Nonconformist hymns and older tunes. In total, the bookcomprises fifty-seven items made up predominantly of tunes and song from category
3, ‘Later Dance or Song Melody’ (54% if including category 3x, 44% otherwise). Morehistoric tunes, those suggestive of having passed through the selection and survival
process of tradition, amount to 30% (excluding category 3x, otherwise 41%). The
results are shown below in Figure 47.

Pre 1750
1750-1830
Cat. 3x
Post 1830
Carol
Religious
Art
Pedagogic

Figure 47 : The 'Depth' of tunes in Hampton MS.

With regards to ‘width’, the most common genre types are shown to be dance tunes
made up of hornpipes and waltzes (19% each) and minstrel song (11%), with a
noticeable comparative absence of quadrilles, shown in Figure 48.

128

15
10

Other

Quickstep

Quadrille

Varsoviana

March

Galop

Carol

Schottische

Reel

Popular…

Polka

Pedagogic

Opera

National Air

Hymn

Country…

Waltz

Hornpipe0

Minstrel…

5

Figure 48 : The 'Width' of tunes in Hampton MS.

Pre-1750 (Category 1)
Although it becomes clear that many of the historic tunes in Hampton MS weresourced from contemporary print,491 the original ‘depth’ of some of these tunes isstriking, for example, ‘Runn’s Hornpipe’ (Ham.5.1). This tune could not be identified bytitle but was a close variant of both Winter, 492 and Rose’s,493 ‘Harlequin Gambols’, andDavoll’s, ‘Harlequin’s Hornpipe’.494 Under this name it was published in 1816 in
Wilson’s Companion to the Ball Room,495 and also in 1810-22 in Blackman’s A Selectionof the most favorite Hornpipes for the Violin,496 indicating early-nineteenth-century
popularity. Linking harlequins to pantomimes, I explored the possibility that ‘Runn’ wasthe name of a famous, now forgotten, nineteenth-century harlequin, but nosupporting evidence could be found. However, Heath-Coleman identified the tune as a
version of ‘Master Byron’s Hornpipe’, dating from circa 1697 from “a publication
attributed to Purcell”,497 perhaps signifying an aural mis-interpretation from ‘Byron’s’to ‘Runns’.
The song, ‘Last Rose of Summer’ (Ham.10.1), was published in Moore’s earlynineteenth-century collection Irish Melodies, a series described as a “veritable corner-

491

This is discussed in Chapter 4.
Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book, p. 74.
493
Thompson and Laycock, Benjamin's Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of BenjaminRose, p. 39.
494
Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, p. 62.
495
Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pellicconi, 'Harlequin Hornpipe 4', Traditional Tune Archive (2017)<http://tunearch.org> [accessed 13 March 2018].
496
Chris Walshaw, 'Harlequin's Hornpipe. Bhp.09', abcnotation (2017) <http://abcnotation.com>[accessed 13 March 2018].
497
David Kettlewell, 'Master Byron's Hornpipe', English Dance & Song, 43. 3 (1981); Philip HeathColeman, Email Correspondence (24 June 2015).
492

129

stone of bourgeois ‘popular song’”,498 which would account for its popularity innineteenth-century repertoires. However, reputedly Moore took the melody from
Alfred Milliken’s eighteenth century song, ‘The Groves of Blarney’, who is said to haveborrowed the tune from a seventeenth-century harp melody.499 A version of ‘Cawder
Fair’, appears in Hampton’s manuscript in shorthand, under the guise of the midnineteenth-century popular dance form of a Highland Schottische (Ham.4.4).500 Knownby several names (‘Calder Fair’, ‘Cawdor Fair’, ‘Hawthorn Tree of Cawdor’ and ‘Go on
Boys and Give a Tune’),501 the “Very Old” tune was published in 1817 in Gow.502 Thetune is reminiscent of the melody of the nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’,
which may date to the early seventeenth-century,503 and is thought to have first been
printed in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, 1744.504
1750-1830 (Category 2)
In Category 2 (1750-1830), we find several tunes which were classed as ‘Country
Dances’ in Hampton’s mid-late-nineteenth-century printed sources, and have origins
dating back to the mid-late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-centuries. Walker
indicates that ‘The Triumph’ (Ham.6.3), was introduced into ballrooms in the lateeighteenth-century, although it is possible that older tunes were ‘re-cycled’ and thetune existed before this time.505 The earliest reference I can find to ‘The Ratcatcher’(Ham.9.2) is as a broadside ballad dated 1813 – 1833.506 As a song it became
immensely popular throughout the century, perhaps fuelled by the celebrity of singer
Sam Cowell (1820-64) in the 1840s,507 and remained popular in printed music during

498

Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 25.
Ibid. p. 27.
500
The tune can be found in Kerr’s (although not Hampton’s direct source) titled ‘’Cawdor Fair’ Highland
Schottische’. Kerr, Kerr's First Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin, (Glasgow: James S Kerr, Nodate), p. 20.
501
Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Cawdor Fair', Traditional Tune Archive (2017)<http://tunearch.org> [accessed 16 March 2018].
502
The annotation “Very Old” is given in Gow. Ibid.
503
Iona Opie and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, (London: Oxford University
Press, 1951), pp. 394-95.
504
British Library, 'Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book', British Library (No Date) <https://www.bl.uk>[accessed 3 March 2018].
505
Christopher Walker, ''The Triumph' in England, Scotland and the United States', Folk Music Journal, 8.
1 (2001), 4-40 (p. 4).
506
Broadside Ballads Online from the Bodleian Libraries, 'Results: Roud Number:13883', Bodleian
Libraries University of Oxford (No date) [accessed 3 March 2018].
507
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 174.
499

130

Hampton’s time.508 It appears to have been a pervasive song, with a Musical World
correspondent from 1855 complaining: “Everywhere I go in London…I cannot escape
the infliction of having my ears stunned with some hideous words relating to thedaughter of a ratcatcher and a seller of sand, set to the most vile tune”.509 The melody
of Ham.8.3, ‘Tight Little Island’ is related to the song of the same name by Thomas
Dibdin (1771 – 1841), Charles Dibdin’s illegitimate son,510 written by Dibdin lateeighteenth, early-nineteenth-century, “at the time of the threatened Napoleonicinvasion”.511 The tune found its way into the morris dance repertoire, listed as having
been “collected and published since the revival in 1905”, by Mary Neal.512
Post-1830 (Category 3)
Notable in Hampton’s more contemporaneous tunes are the number of waltzes andminstrel songs, popular with both Hampton and Soobroy.513 The first item in thetunebook is an untitled and unidentified waltz written by Frank Musgrave. Little has
been written about Musgrave, and I have provided a short biography for contextual
purposes in Appendix K, which would indicate that the waltz dates from before 1865.
Also in Soobroy’s repertoire was ‘Mama’s Little Pet Waltz’ (Ham.1.3), found in two
catalogue entries in BL dating from circa 1860, a piano music-sheet,514 and included in
Farmer’s Orchestral Journal,515 both corroborating the composer as Henry Farmer(1819-1891), owner of a music warehouse in Nottingham.516 The tune was also viewed
at BL, unexpectedly, as part of the collection of tunes in William’s 105 Popular Dances

508

A direct source was found for Hampton: Thomas Westrop, 120 Country Dances, (London: Charles
Sheard & Co., No date), p. 9. The tune also appears in Boosey, Boosey's Hundred Reels, Country & Other
Dances. For the Violin, p. 10.
509
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 174.
510
Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 35.
511
Ibid.
512
Frank Kidson and Mary Neal, English Folk-Song and Dance, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1915), p. 129.
513
Likewise, the number of hornpipes which possibly also date from this period (3X) and discussed in
Chapter 5.
514
British Library Catalogue, 'Mama's Little Pet. Valse. [P. F.]', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 30 April 2017 2017].
515
British Library Catalogue, 'Mama's Little Pet. [Valse Facile.] [Orchestral Parts.]', British Library (Nodate) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 30 April 2017].
516
Scowcroft corroborates the identity of Henry Farmer (1819-1891), a composer and owner of a music
warehouse in Nottingham. Philip L Scowcroft, 'A Thirty-Seveth Garland of British Light Music
Composers', Music Web International (No date) <http://www.musicwebinternational.com/garlands/37.htm> [accessed 30 April 2017].

131

for the Cornet-a-Piston in A natural,517 giving an example of the problems encounteredwithout a catalogue of contents for the printed archive.518 Ham.6.1, ‘Daffodil
Schottische’ also demonstrates these methodological issues. In relying solely on the BL
catalogue, the corresponding title of an 1890 banjo tune ‘Daffodil Schottische’, 519
could be thought to be the same tune as Hampton’s, having implications on the dateof the Hampton MS. When cross-referenced during the BL visit, the tunes were foundto be entirely different. However, newspaper articles made reference to a tune
contemporaneous with the Hampton MS. ‘Daffodil Schottische’ is listed on a concert
programme for the Burslem Out-door concerts in 1875,520 and the Hull Police Band in
1876, attributed to composer J. Frost.521 Although the melody of these references
cannot be verified, the date is more in line with other content found in the manuscript.
Interestingly, Hampton’s tune bears a strong resemblance to the ‘A’ part of ‘What theDevil’,522 which in turn is the same as a tune called ‘What the Devil Ails You’, 523 foundin a collection of Appalachian fiddle tunes collected by Bayard in Southwestern
Pennsylvania.524 The two are so similar that it seems likely that the ‘Daffodil
Schottische’ is an arrangement or variation of ‘What the Devil’.525
Alongside the popular nineteenth-century dances of waltzes, polkas, schottisches anda galop, Hampton also includes a varsoviana, a popular mid-century dance form whichby 1888 was “seldom danced now, though it formerly had a sort of ephemeral
popularity. We always considered it as rather a boisterous sort of performance, andmore suitable for the casino than the private ballroom”.526 The varsoviana ‘The Silver
Lake’ (Ham.8.2) is found in all three case-studies (Til.11.1 and Ben.72.1) and was
517

Joseph Williams and Hugh Shimmells, Williams's 105 Popular Dances, Arranged for the Cornet-àPiston in a by H. Shimmells., (London: Joseph Williams, 1859).
518
Mentioned above in methodology section and discussed in depth in Chapter 7.
519
British Library Catalogue, 'Daffodil Schottische...Banjo Solo, with Pianoforte Accompaniment,Etc.',
British Library (No date) [accessed 3 March 2018].
520'Burslem out-Door Concerts', Staffordshire Sentinel, 14 July 1875,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 16 March 2018].
521'Local Intelligence - Police Band at the Park', Hull Packet 26 May 1876,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
522
Joe Wass, 'What the Devil', Folk Tune Finder (No date) <http://www.folktunefinder.com> [accessed 3
March 2018].
523
J. Lamancusa, 'Hill Country Tunes by Sam Bayard', Penn State University (2017) [accessed 3 March2018].
524
Ibid.
525
Incidentally this is not the same as two tunes by the same name found in Vicker’s 1770 manuscript.
Seattle, The Great Northern Tune Book : William Vickers' Collection of Dance Tunes Ad 1770, p. 89.
526
Frederick Warne, The Ballroom Guide, (London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co. (The Noverre
Press), 1888 (2012)), p. 61.

132

prevalent in many other mid-late-nineteenth-century manuscripts and repertoires.527
It is included in Irwin’s manuscript suggesting a date of early-nineteenth-century,528
although was possibly a later addition as The Musical Bouquet (MB), and Irwin
attribute it to Montgomery first published around 1856.529
Two of the dance tunes (‘Wedding Galop’ (Ham.3.2) and ‘Mina Waltz’ (Ham.7.2)),530
were found to be written by Charles Coote (Junior) who features in Till/Clutterbuck MS
too. In the nineteenth-century, both Charles Coote (Senior (1809-1880)),531 andCharles Coote Junior (1831-1916),532 were prolific composers and arrangers yet are
little known now. Similarly, another prolific composer/arranger whose legacy did notsurvive is W. H. Montgomery. He appears to be the source of several arrangements
found in Hampton’s repertoire, not least, ‘Silver Lake’ (Ham.8.2), ‘The Rigoletto Waltz’(Ham.9.3), ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ (Ham.10.1) and the minstrel song ‘The Gipsy’s
Warning’ (Ham.10.2). Despite BL holding nearly five hundred items under his name,Montgomery’s output must have been greater as I am aware of further publications
not in BL catalogue. The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP),533 attributes
only three works to him, one as composer and two as arranger,534 but provides nobiographical details.535
The five minstrel songs in Hampton’s tunebook reflect their wider popularity in thelater nineteenth-century. Ham.10.2, ‘The Gipsy’s Warning’, was written by Henry A.
Goard,536 (or perhaps arranged, as BL show an opera by this name published in 1838 by

527

Baldwin, Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, p. 21. Till,
ibid. p. 33. Irwin’s manuscript, dating it to at least c1850, The Village Music Project, 'Irwin, Wm Ms Info',
The Village Music Project (No date) <http://www.village-music-project.org.uk> [accessed 3 March 2018].
528
http://www.village-music-project.org.uk/?page_id=84529
Mervyn Slatter, 'The Silver-Lake Varsoviana', Musical Bouquet (2017)<http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk> [accessed 3 March 2017].
530
There are of course possibly more compositions by Coote but due to unidentifiable tunes and no
catalogue or identification resources (such as folktunefinder, or The Village Music Project) available forVictorian popular music research is difficult. This point is discussed in Chapter 7.
531
Frank Greene, 'People Coote Charles', TheMusicSack (2017)<http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100067546> [accessed 26 September 2017].
532
Musopen, 'Charles Coote', (No date) <https://musopen.org/composer/charles-coote/> [accessed 26
September 2017].
533
The International Music Score Library Project.
534
IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, 'Montgomery, William Henry', IMSLP Petrucci Music Library (No date)<http://imslp.org> [accessed 20 February 2018].
535
See Appendix K.
536
Michael R. Turner, The Parlour Song Book, (London: Michael Joseph Ltd, 1972), p. 241.

133

Julius Benedict).537 Many arrangements can be found in BL catalogue indicating that
Goard’s song became popular from 1864, reaching a peak during the early 1870s.
‘Mollie Darling’ (Ham.9.5), written in 1871 by William S Hays,538 remained popular wellinto the twentieth-century, demonstrated during the BL visit by frequent occurrencesin printed collections. Similarly, the BL archive visit showed the popularity of ‘’Tis but a
Faded Flower’ (Ham.10.5), amongst instrumentalists, occurring frequently in
instrumental collections, particularly amongst the minstrel collections. The songexisted in American music sheet form from at least 1860 with words by Mrs Ellen
Howarth and music by J. R. Thomas,539 and was part of The Christy Minstrels’
repertoire,540 circa 1870. Ham.11.4, ‘The Empty Cradle’, again from The Christy
Minstrels’ repertoire was also known as ‘Cradle’s Empty Baby’s Gone’,541 copyrighted
and printed in 1880 by American, Harry Kennedy.542 However an earlier song exists in
BL with the exact title given by Hampton, dated to 1869,543 and thus sits more
comfortably with the proposed date of the manuscript. Reference to a song known by‘Empty Cradle’, an identical title to Hampton’s, can be found in the British Newspaper
Archive (BNA), dated January 1870,544 and corresponding tunes in BL confirm that thetitles were interchangeable,545 the earlier song possibly influencing Kennedy’s version
with subsequent parodies to follow.

537

British Library Catalogue, 'Three Rondos, No 1, the Carnival, No 2, the Tarantella, No 3, the Pulcinella,
for the Piano Forte, From ... The Gipsy's Warning ... No. 3.', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 3 March 2018].
538
Ray B. Browne, The Alabama Folk Lyric: A Study in Origins and Media of Dissemination, (Ohio:
Bowling Green University Popular Press), p. 97.
539
The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, ''Tis but a Little Faded Flower. Ballad.', John Hopkins
Sheridan Libraries & University Museums (2017) <http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu> [accessed 3 May
2017].
540
The Sheetmusic Warehouse, 'Tis but a Little Faded Flower - Ballad Sung by the Christys Minstrels',
The Sheetmusic Warehouse (No date) <https://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk> [accessed 7 June2017].
541
The Sheetmusic Warehouse, 'The Cradles Empty Babys Gone - Song with Chorus Sung by Christys
Minstrels', The Sheetmusic Warehouse (No date) <http://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk> [accessed
4 May 2017].
542
The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, 'Cradle's Empty, Baby's Gone. Song & Chorus.', The
Sheetmusic Warehouse (2017) <http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu> [accessed 6 May 2017].
543
British Library Catalogue, 'The Empty Cradle. Ballad', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk>[accessed 2018 26 January].
544'New Dance Music, All of Which...', Graphic, 29 January 1870,<https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
545
British Library Catalogue, 'Empty Cradle', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 25
March 2017].

134

Categories 4-7546
The religious music found in the main body of Hampton’s tunebook was all
Nonconformist, most of the items existing in Moody and Sankey’s popular nineteenthcentury hymn book, Sacred Songs and Solos. Ham.10.3, subtitled ‘No. 25’, can befound Sacred Songs and Solos, also numbered ‘25’ in the 1890, 1880 and 1870 editionsof the book. The hymn was written in 1868 with lyrics by Fanny Crosby and music by
W. Howard Doane. Similarly, the respective numbering of Ham.12.1 and Ham.12.2 (asNo. 16 and No. 14) indicates that they were potentially sourced from the same hymnbook as Ham.10.3. MB published two of Moody& Sankey’s Revivalist Hymn books andindividual music sheets and books, some of which are arrangements carried out by
Westrop for the violin, although those I viewed in BL did not provide a direct source.
The inclusion of the popular carol, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ (Ham.13.2), is noteworthy.
As an English carol it is thought to date from 1789,547 and in accordance with thesurrounding material it would be feasible to suggest that Hampton either copied thishurriedly from nineteenth-century print or perhaps wrote it out aurally, ‘by ear’, given
the absence of barlines and key and the rhythmic notation appearing to be inshorthand. The origins of the original Latin version, ‘Adeste Fideles’ are explored by
Bennett Zon in his 1996 article in Early Music,548 and a chance meeting between myself
and Professor Zon resulted in him showing much interest in Hampton’stranscription.549 Zon interpreted the absence of barlines and peculiar rhythmic
notation as an indication that Hampton had sourced and copied the tune from a mucholder free-rhythmic source rather than the result of aural/oral transmission.
Till/Clutterbuck MS 1866
The main body of the tunebook totals fifty-six items,550 and Figure 49, shows the‘depth’ of genre detailing an even clearer predominance than Hampton MS for
546

Tunes from categories 6 and 7 are discussed elsewhere in the thesis so are omitted here.
Hymns and Carols of Christmas, 'Adeste, Fideles - Notes on the Hymn', Hymns and Carols of
Christmas (No date) <http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com> [accessed 5 October 2016].
548
Bennett Zon, 'The Origin of "Adeste Fideles"', Early Music, 24. 2 (1996), 279-88.
549
The meeting occurred in the bar of Jury’s Inn, Birmingham following the ‘Music in NineteenthCentury Britain’ conference, held at the University of Birmingham, June 2017.
550
In the content analysis I am excluding the material which comprises separate sacred sections of bothTill/Clutterbuck and Bennett MSS. This is because it fulfils a function which is self-explanatory and isoutside the focus of study of the secular material. Where sacred tunes exist within the main body of thesecular content, these have been included in the examination (for example Ham.10.3, Ham.10.4,
Ham.12.1, Ham.12.2 and Ben.55.1).
547

135

category 3, ‘Later Dance or Song Melodies’ (82% including category 3x, 68% excluding).
Figure 50 shows the ‘width’ of the tunes with tunes belonging to quadrille sets
dominate (23%), with dance forms of hornpipes, waltzes and polkas also making up
favoured genres (13% each) and popular contemporary songs making up 9% of thetotal. Only 15% of tunes (29% including 3x), would be classed as historic, and, if having
survived two generations would be considered as part of folk music tradition.

Pre 1750
1750-1830
Cat. 3x
Post 1830
Carol
Religious
Art
Pedagogic

Figure 49 : The 'Depth' of tunes in Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Quadrille
Hornpipe
Polka
Waltz
Popular Ballad
Galop
Schottische
Country Dance
Opera
Varsoviana
March
Minstrel SongNational Air
Quick Step
Pedagogic
Carol
Hymn
Reel

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Figure 50 : The ‘Width’ of tunes in Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Pre-1750 (Category 1)
I classified only one of Till/Clutterbuck’s tunes as pre-1750,551 ‘Jenny Jones or theCharming Young Widow’ (Til.18.1) and even this arguably belongs in the post-1830
category, as the title suggests Till/Clutterbuck’s encounter with the tune may havebeen via a mid-nineteenth-century broadside ballad. The ballad, ‘The Charming Young

551

Excepting the problematic 3X hornpipes.

136

Widow I Meet on the Train’,552 was to be sung to the melody ‘Jenny Jones’, 553 and the
lyrics were written by W. H. Cove, and music by John Parry (1776-1851). It appears
extensively in BL catalogue and possibly made famous by celebrity singer Mr. W.
Randal in the 1860s.554 The melody is a popular tune in the English and Scottish
repertoire,555 thought to originate from a traditional Welsh dance.556
1750-1830 (Category 2)
Few tunes were classified in the second category. The first is a quickstep (Til.9.1),
which has strong ‘A’ part similarities with several other manuscript and publishedtunes from the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. Two quicksteps in Edward
Winder and James Winder’s manuscripts and ‘Miss Small of Dirnanean’s Jigg’ found in
the Petrie’s collection (1790),557 bear similarities as does ‘The Doldrum’, from Fentum's
A Favourite Collection of Country Dances, 1797.558 However, a tune appearing in both
Joshua Jackson’s 1798 manuscript,559 and H.S.I Jackson’s 1823 manuscript book,560 canbe seen as particularly close variants. The tune, called Capuchin, could have been
copied from the version printed in Aird’s.561 Comparison with a tune in Hughes’
manuscript (c1811), from Westbury-On-Trym indicates this tune was known (or usedas) the ‘Glocester Quick Step’ [sic], shown and discussed in Chapter 5.
Four of the tunes in this category were used in the mid-late nineteenth-century as partof quadrille sets. In this context they were transcribed as individual tunes rather thanpart of a quadrille and thus classed as such, although their presence in the tunebook islikely connected to their existence in quadrilles. The first two (Til.34.1, Til.34.2), are552

National Library of Scotland, 'The Word on the Street', National Library of Scotland (2004)<http://digital.nls.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].
553
Library of Congress, 'The Charming Young Widow I Met in the Train. Air: Jenny Jones. H. De Marsan,
Publisher, 60 Chatham Street, New York', Library of Congress (No date) <https://www.loc.gov>[accessed 20 May 2017].
554
British Library Catalogue, 'The Charming Young Widow I Met in the Train / Sung with Immense
Success by Mr. W. Randall ; [Written by W.H. Cove].', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk>[accessed 10 May 2016].
555
Andrew Kuntz, 'Jenn', The Fiddler's Companion (2010) <http://www.ibiblio.org> [accessed 3
December 2017].
556
ffidylguy, 'Cader Idris Waltz', The Session (2004) <https://thesession.org>.
557
Joe Wass, 'Mrs. Small of Dirnanean's Jigg', Folk Tune Finder (No date) <http://folktunefinder.com>[accessed 6 June 2017].
558
Colin Hume, 'Maggot Pie', Colin Hume (2018) <http://www.colinhume.com> [accessed 26 June 2017].
559
Shepherd and Shepherd, Mr Joshua Jackson Book 1798 : Tunes, Songs & Dances from the Manuscriptof a Yorkshire Corn Miller and Musician Volume Two, p. 106.
560
Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale, p. 63.
561
Aird, 'A Selection of Scotch, English Irish and Foreign Airs', IMSLP (No date) <http://imslp.nl>[accessed 2017 3 May].

137

part of an alternative version of the ‘Bonnie Dundee Quadrille’ discussed in Chapter 4.
As older songs both have connections to Robbie Burns.562 ‘Whistle & I’ll Come to theemy Lad’, reputed to have been written in 1793, “based on an old fragment of an evenmore ancient song”,563 and ‘Comin’ through the rye’, which has appeared in several
variations including one by Burns.564 Both appear extensively in nineteenth-century
print in Britain and America as songs and in instrumental collections.565
Til.35.1, ‘3rd Figure of the Lancers’ is ‘La Native’, based on ‘If the Heart of a Man’ fromThe Beggar’s Opera’,566 and formed part of the dance form known as the Lancers. A
description in 1888 describes the dance thus:
Undoubtedly the most popular quadrille after the First Set…indeed, we arealmost inclined to fancy that it is the most popular of any quadrilles. Many
years ago this dance was a great favourite, but, owing to the freaks of fashion,
it lapsed into obscurity, and was seldom, if ever, danced. We believe praise isdue to the Empress Eugenie, to whom we are indebted for many things besidecrinoline, for the re-introduction of this best of quadrilles into the modern
ballroom.567
The tune set of five melodies was constructed by John Duval in 1817,568 andTill/Clutterbuck’s transcription is near identical (apart from dotting the rhythm in bar
5), to an 1857 printed piano arrangement,569 which was published by Robert Cocks &Co.’s. It is curious that Till/Clutterbuck only copied the third figure, suggesting heeither knew the other four figures, or that band members or friends were copying one
each and pooling their copies at a dance.
Till/Clutterbuck’s ‘Swiss Air’ (Til.38.1) proved difficult to identify as although it has
melodic elements of the popular and frequently occurring dance tune and Tyrolean
song ‘Swiss Boy’, it is not the same. Discussion on a tune forum suggests that the562

Rampant Scotland, 'Traditional Scottish Songs - Comin' Thro' the Rye ', (No date)<http://www.rampantscotland.com> [accessed 9 June 2017]; Rampant Scotland, 'Traditional Scottish
Songs - Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad ', Rampant Scotland (No date)<http://www.rampantscotland.com> [accessed 9 June 2017].
563
Rampant Scotland, 'Traditional Scottish Songs - Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad '.
564
Rampant Scotland, 'Traditional Scottish Songs - Comin' Thro' the Rye '.
565
For example, see MB catalogue, BL listings and LOC listings.
566
Andrew Kuntz, 'Lan - Lap', The Fiddler's Companion (2009) <http://www.ibiblio.org> [accessed 4
October 2017]. Also known as ‘Poor Robin’s Maggot’.
567
Warne, The Ballroom Guide, p. 43.
568
Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Lancers Quadrilles First Figure (the)', Traditional Tune Archive(2016) <http://tunearch.org> [accessed 15 April 2017].
569
Spagnoletti, 'The Lancers Quadrilles / Duval's Second Set', Internet Archive (No date)<https://archive.org> [accessed 4 December 2017].

138

original air of ‘Swiss Boy’ was a Swiss Tyrolean song, later arranged by Ignaz Moscheles
and incorporated into his ‘Tyrolese Melodies’ (published in 1827), which can now befound in many manuscripts including Thomas Hardy’s.570 I could not identify the tune
in Moscheles’ ‘Tyrolese Melodies’, although I found the ‘B’ part to closely resemble a
German folk song, ‘Du Du Liegt Mir Im Herzen’,571 which originates from Northern
Germany. It transpires that Bavarian composer and inventor, Wilhelm Boehm
published arrangements of both ‘Swiss Boy’ and ‘Du Du Lieght’ in 1838 called‘Variations sur un air Tyrolien’ and ‘Variations sur un air Allemand’.572 On examination,
the latter is revealed as a match to the melody in the second half of Till/Clutterbuck’s
tune and the former is a version of the ‘Swiss Boy’, echoing the ‘A’ part of
Till/Clutterbuck’s melody and pointing to his version being a later arrangement of thetwo tunes. This type of ‘Swiss’ tune was evidently popular in this musical practice as all
three case-studies have an example (Ham.12.3, Til.38.1 and Ben.34.1).
Post-1830 (Category 3)
Quadrilles and hornpipes are popular tunes in this category but are discussed
elsewhere, so the discussion here begins with polkas and waltzes. A cluster of polkas
begin with ‘The Enchanters Polka’ Til.19.1 which can be identified in (Soobroy’s),
Boosey’s 100 Dances,573 as ‘The Enchantress Polka’ attributed to A. P. Juliano. Onceagain, little is known about Juliano, yet during the nineteenth-century he was so wellregarded that his compositions were played at Queen Victoria’s state ball in May
1852.574 Census searches reveal no information and indicate that the name is likely to
be a pseudonym. The printed version is much longer than Till/Clutterbuck’s, who
appears to have been interrupted before completing the first section. Two more
melodies with the same title but different composers were found (Albert Sumner,575
J.M. Jolly),576 although their corresponding melodies cannot be verified. BL hold a copy
570

The Session, 'The Swiss Boy', The Session (No date) <https://thesession.org> [accessed 9 April 2017].
Joe Wass, 'Du Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen', Folk Tune Finder (No date) <http://folktunefinder.com>[accessed 19 April 2017].
572
IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, 'Boehm, Theobald', IMSLP Petrucci Music Library (No date)<http://imslp.org> [accessed 28 May 2017].
573
Boosey, Boosey's Hundred Reels, Country & Other Dances. For the Violin.
574'The Court. Her Majesty's State Ball', Northern Standard, 29 May 1852,<https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 7 October 2017].
575
Ebay, 'The Enchantress Polka Brilliante, Albert I. Sumner, J. H.Hidley Albany, Ny, 1864', Ebay (2017)<http://www.ebay.ca> [accessed 14 June 2017].
576
The Sheetmusic Warehouse, 'The Enchantress Polka', The Sheetmusic Warehouse (No date)<http://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk> [accessed 28 May 2017].
571

139

of Juliano’s ‘L'Enchanteresse Polka’ in Boosey’s Orchestral Journal No. 5, and it also
appears in Boosey’s 100 Dances for Violin, Boosey’s 100 Dances for Cornet, andBoosey’s 100 Dances for Flute.577
Til.20.1 is untitled but was identified as the ‘Trecynon Polka’,578 thought to be from acollection of old Welsh tunes,579 although the modulation and melodic shape suggest
the tune is a mid-nineteenth-century newly composed polka. It is noteworthy that thetune is considered by some to be a ‘traditional’ Welsh tune which likely entered therepertoire via a popular route, in a converse manner to the traditional tunes ofTil.14.1-Til.17.1 entering the popular market, discussed below.
The ‘Great Eastern Polka’ (Til.21.1) is an example of a tune referring to current events.
The ‘SS Great Eastern’, was the largest ship of her time, designed by Brunel to carrypassengers and cargo from England to Australia without refuelling. She launched in1858 and despite laying the first transatlantic cable in 1866, the year of themanuscript, she ended her life as a floating Music Hall and was scrapped in 18881889.580 TTA and MB (Figure 51),581 attribute the tune to Charles Coote (Junior),582 yet
the orchestral and piano arrangements in BL cite Charles Coote (Senior) as
composer.583

577

British Library Catalogue, 'L'enchanteresse Polka', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk>[accessed 4 May 2017].
578
Joe Wass, 'The Trecynon Polka', Folk Tune Finder (No date) <http://folktunefinder.com> [accessed2017 17 March].
579
The Session, 'Polca Trecynon', The Session (No date) <https://thesession.org> [accessed 25 March2017].
580
IKBrunel.org.uk, 'Ss Great Eastern', IKBrunel.org.uk (No date) <http://www.ikbrunel.org.uk/ss-greateastern> [accessed 17 April 2017]. Please note I use ‘Music Hall’ when describing the actual building and‘musichall’ when discussing the repertoire.
581
Mervyn Slatter, 'The Great Eastern Polka - Pf.Solo', Musical Bouquet (2017)<http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk/the-great-eastern> [accessed 29 September 2016].
582
Ibid.; Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Great Eastern Polka (the)', Traditional Tune Archive(2012) <http://tunearch.org> [accessed 9 May 2016].
583
British Library Catalogue, 'Coote Great Eastern Polka', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk>[accessed 5 June 2017].

140

Figure 51 : ‘The Great Eastern Polka’. Source: www.musicalbouquet.co.uk.

However, a piano duet arrangement in BL attributes the piece to Charles D’Albert in1860 perhaps referring to the arrangement.584 The tune is thought to be part ofHardy’s repertoire,585 and is also found in an Irish manuscript.586 In the same vein, ‘The
White Star Polka’ (Til.23.1) also takes the name of a famous shipping line. Althoughreference to an orchestral piece was found with this title,587 I believe the composer,‘Mr A Moffat Berkeley’, was local and known to Till/Clutterbuck. It is not known
whether Moffat’s compositions were published although none can be found attributed
to him in newspaper archives.588
The next polka, ‘Scotch Polka’ (Til.24.1), can be found in the Watson manuscript(Norfolk, 1850-1880),589 and matched the melody of D’Albert’s ‘Scotch Polka’.590 The
tune was first published in 1856,591 and remained in the concert repertoire until atleast 1868.592 ‘Ask Mamma Polka’ (Til.30.1) was evidently another very popular dancetune in the mid-nineteenth-century. References to a dance by this name are made in
584

British Library Catalogue, 'The Big Ship, or Great Eastern Polka, as a [P.F.] Duet. Charles D' Albert,
1809-1886.', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 7 May 2017].
585
Trim and others The Musical Heritage of Thomas Hardy.
586
Kuntz and Pelliccioni, 'Great Eastern Polka (the)'.
587
Philip L Scowcroft, 'Ships and Harbours in British Music', Classical Music Web (No date)<http://www.musicweb-international.com> [accessed 17 August 2017].
588
For more discussion on Moffatt, see Chapters 5 & 6.
589
Taz Tarry, 'Scoth? Scotch Polka', trillian.mit.edu (No date) <http://trillian.mit.edu> [accessed 28
December 2017].
590
Irish Sheet Music Archives, 'The Scotch Polka', Irish Sheet Music Archives (2017)<http://irishsheetmusicarchives.com> [accessed 18 May 2017].
591'Just Published', Aberdeen Press and Journal, 26 March 1856,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 8 May 2017].
592'Royal Tyrone Fusilier's Band', Tyrone Constitution, 17 July 1868,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].

141

Robert Smith Surtees’ 1858 book, Ask Mamma: Or The Richest Commoner In
England,593 and an engraving by the Punch caricaturist John Leech (1817-1864),
entitled The Hunt Ball, "Ask Mamma" Polka,594 can also be found. Mention of the
melody was found as an advertisement on a music sheet when researching Til.24.1,595
but the melody was not found until it unexpectedly appeared in an instrumental
collection, arranged by Westrop and published by MB.596
Waltzes also feature heavily in Till/Clutterbuck’s tunebook, accounting for six of thetunes. The first waltz Til.12.2 has a distinct title, ‘The Hebe Waltz (No 1)’, yet can still
only partially be identified. Initial searches highlight the possibility of this being a
popular version of Emile Waldteufel’s (1837-1915), ‘Hebe Waltz’, Op. 228, although
the melody bears little resemblance. An alternative would be the music sheet dated
1839 held in the Library of Congress (LOC), containing three waltzes, one named as‘The Hebe’, composed by Andrew Schad,597 yet on closer examination, the melody
differs. A final suggestion, found online, in an advertisement on the back of a popular
music sheet seems the most plausible (Figure 52).598 A matching title can be seen,listing the composer as W. H. Montgomery. Despite having no melody with which tocompare, the music sheet is ‘Champagne Charlie’, written in 1866,599 and ties in withthe date of the manuscript. Furthermore, Till/Clutterbuck’s next tune (Til.13.2), ‘The
Heather Bloom Waltz (No 1) Haydn Millers’, is also on this advertisement, suggestingthat not only are these the tunes but the publications are a potential source.

593

Robert Smith Surtees, Ask Mamma : Or the Richest Commoner in England, (1858).
Look and Learn, 'The Hunt Ball, "Ask Mamma" Polka', Look and Learn (2017)<http://www.lookandlearn.com> [accessed 29 June 2017].
595
Mervyn Slatter, 'Welcome to the Musical Bouquet', Musical Bouquet (2011)<http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk> [accessed 13 September 2015].
596
Thomas Westrop, One Hundred and Fifty Melodies for the Violin. Adapted Also for the Flute, or Any
Treble Instrument., (London: Charles Sheard, Musical Bouquet, c1860), p. 51. This is a further exampleof the methodological difficulties encountered as this book has no contents page.
597
Library of Congress, 'Three Waltzes: My Home, the Hebe, and the Lily', Library of Congress (No date)<https://www.loc.gov> [accessed 20 February 2018].
598
Birmingham City Council, 'Champagne Charlie', Birmingham City Council (No date)<https://www.birmingham.gov.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018]. Reproduced with the permission of the
Library of Birmingham. Music Library: Song sheet collection.
599
Victoria & Albert Museum, 'George Leybourne', Victoria and Albert Museum (2016)<http://www.vam.ac.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].
594

142

Figure 52 : ‘The Hebe Waltz’. Source: www.birmingham.gov.uk.

Although the publisher’s name cannot be read, the address of 13 Castle Street East,
has led me to the publisher or printer of J & W Pearman dating the copy to 1858-66.600
Despite Till/Clutterbuck naming the composer and title for Til.13.2, and publication
confirmed by the advertisement in Figure 52, little else is known about the melody.
During BL visit I examined a waltz by the same name, composed by W Smallwood,601
but found the melody did not match. A music sheet exists in the Harvard College
Library yet is not accessible online,602 and listings exist in BL which match the title, but
none is attributed to Haydn Millars. BL hold over one hundred items attributed to
Haydn Millars, and it appears that his chief output was between 1870 and 1903,
placing this waltz at the beginning of his career.603
Once again, very little is now known about a composer who had a large impact onnineteenth-century musical life. It was difficult uncovering more about the composer,
partly due to his use of different forenames, the frequent mis-spelling of his surname
to the more common Miller or Millers and the peripatetic nature of his work as
bandmaster and conductor. However, I have presented a brief biography in Appendix
K. I feel there is scope for more research to illuminate the lives of key nineteenth600

John A. Parkinson, Victorian Music Publishers : An Annotated List, (Michigan: Harmonie Park Press,
1990), p. 215.
601
W. Smallwood, 'Hebe Waltz Music Collections H.1412.', British Library (No date).
602
Harvard Univeristy Library, 'Illustrated Sheet Music, 1839-1948:Guide.', Harvard University Library(No date) <http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu> [accessed 17 March 2018].
603
See Appendix K for biography.

143

century characters who were evidently highly regarded in their time and had a major
influence on the Victorian vernacular amateur musical practice. As with a great deal of
the repertoire, the names and reputations of these men have not survived and there
would be value in having their histories written and preserved.
Several song melodies feature in Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript including ‘Rosalie,
Prairie Flower’, composed by G F Wurzell and part of the Christy Minstrel repertoire.
Denes Agay believes that Wurzell, similar to the German for ‘root’ is a pseudonym for
George F. Root (1820-1895).604 The tune has since been absorbed into the traditional
repertoire and is known as the ‘Northumbrian Schottische’.605 A similar example of theselection, absorption and survival of a contemporary popular song into a traditional
repertoire, or the recycling of a traditional song in contemporary repertoire, can befound in Til.44.1, ‘Twas on a Sunday Morning’. Also known as ‘Dashing Away with the
Smoothing Iron’, it was collected by Sharp in the early-twentieth-century.606 It was
popular during the 1850s and 1860s and is attributed to Frank Mori (1820 – 1873).607‘I’ll be there Love at half past nine’ (Til.44.2), may indicate a later addition to themanuscript as the title and melody match a popular musichall song written in 1893,608
by Wal Pink and George Le Brunn. Worldcat lists four publications between 1893 and1894,609 and no earlier reference can be found. Influence of an earlier musichall songcan be found in Til.43.1, ‘Champaign Charlie’. It was a massive success, reputed to havebeen written in 1866 by Albert Lee and George Leybourne.610 Till/Clutterbuck’s
transcription is more analogous with a dance arrangement of the tune. LSMC holdmany dance arrangements including a galop entitled, ‘Champagne Charlie Galop’
which resembles Till/Clutterbuck’s transcription.

604

Lesley Nelson-Burns, 'Rosalie, the Prairie Flower', The Contemplator (No date)<http://www.contemplator.com> [accessed 17 March 2018].
605
The Session, 'Rosalie, the Prairie Flower', The Session (No date) <https://thesession.org> [accessed 17
March 2018].
606
Traditional & Folk Songs, 'Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron', Traditional & Folk Songs (No date)<http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018]; Joe Offer, 'Dashing Away with the
Smotthing Iron', (No date) <http://www.joe-offer.com> [accessed 17 March 2018].
607
Frank Mori, ''Twas on a Sunday Morning [the Words by Charles Swain]', Cramer, Beale & Co. (1853)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].
608
New York Library Digital Collections, 'Half Past Nine'.
609
OCLC Worldcat Identities, 'Half Past Nine', OCLC World Cat (No date) <http://www.worldcat.org>[accessed 17 March 2018].
610
Victoria & Albert Museum, 'George Leybourne'.

144Bennett MS 1860
Twenty sacred psalms begin Bennett’s manuscript, followed by seventy-seven items ofinterest. Once again, the majority of these are classed as category 3, ‘Later Dance orSong Melodies’ (80% including category 3x, 71% without), shown in Figure 53. Figure
54 shows the genre breakdown indicating an overriding dominance of tunes which
form quadrille sets (36%), followed by hornpipes and popular contemporary songs at
12% each. 13% make up tunes which have ‘survived’ into the manuscripts asrepresentative of the traditional process (22% including 3x).

Pre 1750
1750-1830
Cat. 3x
Post 1830
Carol
Religious
Art
Pedagogic
Other

Figure 53 : The 'Depth' of tunes in Bennett MS.

30
25
20
15
10
5
Quadrille
Hornpipe
Popular Ballad
National Air
Polka
Country Dance
Waltz
Minstrel Song
Quick Step
Other
March
Schottische
Opera
Varsoviana
Pedagogic
Hymn
Reel
Galop
Carol

0

Figure 54 : The 'Width of tunes in Bennett MS.

145

Pre-1750
I have classed two of Bennett’s ‘National Airs’ in the ‘Pre-1750’ category. The history of
Ben.36.2, ‘Last Rose of Summer’ is discussed in Hampton’s tunebook summary, but
Bennett’s transcription is noteworthy as it appears to have been written either aurally
or in shorthand as an aide-memoire or a second-part harmony. The melody of thesecond air, ‘Young Ellen the Fair’ (Ben.127.2) appears to have been written by adifferent scribe from Ben.127.1. It is possibly an addition when the manuscript was in
Canada as no listing exists for this song in BL catalogue. The title can be traced to a
Nova Scotia folk song, collected from Alexander Harrison.611 William MacKenzie
suggests it was a common British broadside ballad, ‘but is not included in the recent
English collections’,612 which may indicate that Bennett learnt it in Canada or that its
popularity there reminded him of it as a song from his childhood. MacKenzie notesthat it was also known as ‘Helen the Fair’. I traced a chapbook (Figure 55) published in
Glasgow but found on an American website specialising in rare books andmanuscripts.613

Figure 55 : Chapbook Five Popular Songs. Source: www.prbm.com.

The title of Ben.72.2 is curious: ‘Text. Round and Small’, although the melody is‘Buttered Peas’, which is an old tune, found in eighteenth century printed publications

611

Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics, 'Ellen the Fair', Traditional Music (No date)<http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk> [accessed 17 March 2017].
612
Nova Story Digital Collections, 'Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia W. Roy Mackenzie', Nova
Story Digital Collections (No date) <http://www.novastory.ca> [accessed 17 March 2018].
613'Five Popular Songs', Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts (No date) <https://www.prbm.com>[accessed 17 March 2018].

146and manuscripts, dating to at least 1730.614 The cryptic title is perhaps referring topeas, which might suggest song lyrics although no trace of lyrics containing the title
can be found. Bennett adds a version in F major in bluer ink underneath the initial tune
(written in G major), enabling a Bb and C instrument to play in unison.
1750-1830
I have classed three of Bennett’s tunes in the second category. The first is ‘Speed thePlough’ (Ben.35.1), a commonly occurring dance tune which BL listings suggest was
popular in the early 1800s.615 The tune appears several times in the slightly earlier
Winter manuscript.616 A detailed history exists on session.org stating that the tune waswritten for Dibdin’s musical play, The Naval Pillar, composed by John Moorhead.617
Based on this, I categorised the tune as 2a, although it is possible that Dibdin or hismusical director could have recycled an older, pre-existing tune. Bennett writes ‘Those
Evening Bells’ (Ben.73.1) as an instrumental part, indicating involvement in a group orband,618 and the melody is clarified by Bennett writing ‘song’ underneath the fourthstave. BL have many holdings, dating from 1820 through to the twenty-first-century,and the BL visit confirmed the melody to match a version attributed to J W Tidswell,although it appears to be an arrangement of a song based on a poem by Thomas
Moore and a melody by J A Stevenson (1761-1833).619 The final item in this category,
Ben.75.1, ‘Will Watch the Bold Smuggler’ is likely related to a broadside song (Figure56),620 dated to c1820,621 although it cannot be confirmed whether the melody is
original to the song.

614

Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Buttered Peas (1)', Traditional Tune Archive (2017)<http://tunearch.org> [accessed 20 March 2018].
615
British Library Catalogue, 'Speed the Plough', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk>[accessed 17 March 2018].
616
Dated both 1848 and 1850.Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book, pp. 2-3. See Chapter 4.
617
The Session, 'Speed the Plough Reel', The Session (No date) <https://thesession.org> [accessed 17
March 2018].
618
Further evidence of band (especially brass) involvement can be found in inscriptions or harmonies instBen.56.1 and Ben.126.2 (punctuated harmonies), Ben.59.1-Ben.64.1 (references to 1 Cornet part)Ben.85.1 (Eb piccolo and flute).
619
John Stevenson, Those Evening Bells / by Thomas Moore, the Symphonies & Accompaniments by Sir J.
Stevenson, (W. Williams & Co, 1862).
620
National Library of Scotland, 'Will Watch, the Bold Smuggler', National Library of Scotland (No date)<http://digital.nls.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018]. Reproduced with permission from materials on loan to
the National Library of Scotland from the Balcarres Heritage Trust.
621
Lesley Nelson-Burns, 'Will Watch', The Contemplator (No date) <http://www.contemplator.com>[accessed 17 March 2018].

147

Figure 56: ‘Will Watch, The Bold Smuggler’. Source: http://digital.nls.uk.

Post-1830
Once again, by far the largest category in the manuscript are tunes belonging to thepost-1850 period. Bennett’s repertoire is dominated by tunes which make up quadrillesets. The first set, the ‘England Quadrills’ (Ben.25.1-Ben.29.1) can be traced as
D’Albert’s ‘England: Quadrille upon English Air’,622 comprising adaptations of historic
tunes, of the sort discussed later in the chapter. BL hold piano arrangements datingfrom 1853-56,623 and the dance set enjoyed lengthy popularity, with numerous
newspaper reports of its use in both concert and dance programmes from the 1850s
and 1860s with some reports still showing its use in the 1880s.624 They should not be
confused with Jullien’s ‘English Quadrilles’.
The second quadrille set is ‘Charlestown Quadrills’, another ‘composition’ by Charles
D’Albert, and found in many of Chappell’s publications.625 TTA list the individual tunes

622

Identified via an online resource and the tunes therein identified as ‘Hunting The Hare’, Begone Dull
Care’, ‘A Favourite Air Of Charles II’, ‘Lads And Lasses All Advance’, ‘Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be?’,‘To All You Ladies’, ‘Woodpecker Tapping’, ‘Le Galop’, ‘The Fall Of Paris’, ‘See The Conquering Hero
Comes’ and ‘Home Sweet Home’. Library of Congress, 'Image 1 of England Quadrille (D'albert)', Libraryof Congress (No date) < https://www.loc.gov> [accessed 17 March 2018].
623
British Library Catalogue, 'England Quadrille D'albert', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk>[accessed 17 March 2018].
624'Shropshire Hunt Ball', Eddowes's Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, and the Principalityof Wales, 18 January 1882, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].
625Franz Nava, Chappell's 100 Dances, Arranged for the Cornet-à-Pistons, Etc. , (London: Chappell & Co,
c1858-78), p. 2nd series; Carlo Minasi, 50 Favourite Melodies with Variations for the Concertina with148

and show its inclusion on a military band concert programme in 1860. They also quotean 1860 newspaper article regarding ‘newly arrived’ sheet music, suggesting that thetune was relatively new when added to Bennett’s book. MB also published a title bythis name, ‘written’ by W H Montgomery in 1860 and said to be played by the leading
orchestral and military bands and arranged on the best songs of the Christy andCampbell’s Minstrels, however, clarification from BL confirms that once again,
Montgomery’s version differs from D’Albert’s.
The third set of quadrilles is ‘The Rat’s Quadrills’ [sic], written by Gervasius Redler. This
dance tune set shows lasting popularity with holdings in BL catalogue dating fromc1841 to 1878, mainly as piano arrangements.626 However, the set of quadrilles wasoften seen within the instrumental collections viewed in BL, by various publishers,
Metzler,627 dated 1873 and Montgomery’s 120 Dances for Cornet, dated 1860,
published by MB,628 and Chappell’s 100 Dances for Violin.629 The last complete
quadrille set,630 is entitled ‘Serenaders or Nigger Set of Quadrills’ [sic] (Ben.97.1Ben.101.1), and although based on popular minstrel songs, cannot be traced as awhole. BL hold listings for the ‘Ethiopian Serenaders Quadrilles’ (an 1840s minstrel
troupe),631 and MB published ‘Buckley Serenaders Quadrilles’ in 1860, written (orarranged) by Montgomery,632 however on viewing at BL these were not the same as
Bennett’s. Winter has a set of quadrilles called ‘The Niger’s Quadrilles’,633 although
only one tune seems comparable.
Alongside quadrilles, many other dance forms are represented in this category,including waltzes such as ‘The Dew Drop Waltz’ (Ben.36.1), found to match one written

Piano Forte Accompaniment., (London: Chappell, 1860); E. F. Rimbault, Chappell's 100 Dances, Arranged
for the Violin -3rd Series, (London: Chappell, 1858-92).
626
British Library Catalogue, 'Rats Quadrilles', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed
18 March 2018].
627
G. Redler, Les Rats Quadrilles, (London: Metzler & Co., 1873).
628
W. H. Montgomery, Montgomery's 120 Dances for the Cornet, Etc., (London: Musical Bouquet,1860).
629
Rimbault, Chappell's 100 Dances, Arranged for the Violin -3rd Series.
630
The very last item in Bennett’s book (Ben.130.2)is a single tune taken from Jullien’s ‘Royal Irish
Quadrilles’, also found in Till/Clutterbuck MS, discussed later in the chapter.
631
British Library Catalogue, 'Ethiopian Serenaders Quadrille', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 18 March 2018].
632
Mervyn Slatter, 'Other Publications ', Musical Bouquet (2018) <https://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk>[accessed 18 March 2018].
633
Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book, p. 95.

149

by D’Albert,634 and consequently featuring in many of Chappell’s publications,635 and‘The Angel’s Whisper Waltz’ (Ben.56.1). The melody of this waltz did not match a songby the same name, written by Samuel Lover. However, the waltz was included on an1862 concert programme from the bands of H.M.S Lion and the 1 st Renfrewshire Rifle
Volunteers who attributed it to J S Jones,636 and during the BL visit the melody
matched with an MB version, also attributed to J S Jones.637 Ben.40.1, ‘Mary’s Pet
Waltz’ is conspicuous by its difference as although the handwriting of the title seems
consistent, the notational style and intended instrument deviate from the norm.
Written for piano, the waltz appears to have been written by E. Mack in 1880.638 As it
was written in-between blank or missing pages it is possibly a later addition when thebook was in Canada.
Ben.128.1, ‘King Piping Polka’ appears to be a mis-spelling of the ‘King Pippin Polka’ or‘King Pipping’. Bennett’s version is very similar to one in the 1860 Tidlesley manuscript
which could suggest a comparable source.639 Written by D’Albert, the newspaper
extract in Figure 57 (noteworthy for the comparable items in Bennett’s manuscript),
suggest the tune was composed circa 1856.640

634

Library of Congress, 'Image 1 of Dew Drop Waltz', Library of Congress (No date)<https://www.loc.gov> [accessed 20 March 2018]; Edward Rimbault, Chappell's 100 Dances for theFlute, (London: Chappell & Co., No date).
635
See Chapter 4 for the exclusivity deal between D’Albert and Chappell.
636'Naval Athletic Sports', Greenock Advertiser 14 May 1868,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
637
James Sidney Jones, The Angel's Whisper Valse, (London: Musical Bouquet, 1874).
638
Library of Congress, 'Image 2 of Mary's Pet Waltz', Library of Congress (No date)<https://www.loc.gov> [accessed 20 March 2018].
639
Joe Wass, 'King Pipping Polka. Tly.035', Folk Tune Finder (No date) <http://folktunefinder.com>[accessed 17 March 2018].
640'Good News for Musical People', Huddersfield and Holmfirth Examiner, 3 May 1856,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].

150

Figure 57 : Advertisement for ‘King Pippin Polka’. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED.

Additionally a newspaper report (Figure 58),641 details the tune being performed by aband (also called an orchestra) in Portsmouth.

641'Wesley Central Hall', Portsmouth Evening News, 2 March 1908,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 20 March 2018].

151

Figure 58: ‘King Pippin’ in a concert programme. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

‘The Signal March’, Ben.38.1, was composed by Kleber and was popular from the1860s to the twentieth-century. An 1862 newspaper report lists the tune on the
program of a joint amateur music concert between a Volunteer Band (described as abrass band), and the drum and fife band.642 Interestingly Ben.76.1, ‘The Young Recruit’(and Til.10.1) appears on the same program, written by Kuchen.
Observations made directly above and in the 1750-1830 category suggest that Bennett
was involved in playing with a town band and the choice of some of the repertoire may
also reflect this.643 However the inclusion of many song melodies suggests that hismusical output was not necessarily exclusively bound to ‘institutionalised’ music
making and that he had a role in more informal community or personal musicalactivities. The song ‘Mother, I’ve come Home to Die’ (Ben.92.1), was sung by the
Christy Minstrels, 644 and was popular in England 1863-74.645 Bennett writes in Bb
major, splitting into three part harmonies for the chorus (Air, Alto and Tenor), and a

642'Amateur Musical Performance', Barnet Press, 7 June 1862,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 18 March 2018].
643
For example, two quicksteps, Ben.70.1 and Ben.71.1, and two marches, Ben.76.1 and Ben.38.1, thepolkas and quadrilles. The role of bands providing music for both civic events and dances is discussed in
Chapter 5.
644
National Library of Australia, 'Dear Mother, I've Come Home to Die', National Library of Australia (Nodate) <http://nla.gov.au> [accessed 18 March 2018 2018].
645
British Library Catalogue, 'Dear Mother I've Come Home to Die', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 18 March 2018].

152

potential direct source (Figure 59) was found amongst MB music sheets during the BL
visit which attributed the music to Henry Tucker and the words to E Bowers. 646

Figure 59 : ‘Mother I've Come Home to Die’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (h.2345: 3494).

Ben.112.2, ‘Poly Won’t You Try Me O’, can be identified as the Christy Minstrel song
‘Keemo, Kimo’,647 popular in England between 1855 and 1860. Bennett’s version
resembles a dance arrangement of the song and BL collection shows it to be a veryfrequent item in the instrumental Minstrel collections, popular with publishers
Chappell, Boosey, and MB.648 ‘Isle of beauty’ (Ben.75.2 and Ben.81.1) is another midnineteenth-century popular song, with many entries in BL,649 and also listed in MB
646

Henry Tucker and E. Bowers, Dear Mother I've Come Home to Die, (London: Musical Bouquet, 1846c.90).
647
British Library Catalogue, 'Keemo, Kimo', British Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 17
March 2018]. Compare to Ben.92.1 in Appendix A.
648
George Case, One Hundred Ballads for the Violin, (London: Boosey, 1859); W. H Montgomery,Montgomery's One Hundred and Thirty Christy Minstrels' Songs, Arranged for the Violin, (London:
Musical Bouquet, 1860). Edward F Rimbault, Chappell's 100 Popular Songs, National Airs, &C., Arranged
for the Flute by E. F. Rimbault, (London: Chappell & Co, 1858).
649
British Library Catalogue, 'Isle of Beauty', British Library (NO date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed
18 March 2018].

153

catalogue, dated 1864 (C S Whitmore) and 1866 (Whitmore and Bayly). 650 The melody
features in Winter’s manuscript adopting very similar stylistics perhaps indicating thesame source (Figure 60).651 Winter (thought to be a fiddle and flute player),652 writes atone above Bennett, which would corroborate Bennett’s supposed instrument being a
Bb woodwind or brass and suggesting Bennett played this alongside ‘C’ instruments
such as the fiddle and flute.

Figure 60 : ‘Isle of Beauty’ in the Bennett and Winter MSS. Photo: G. Carter / R Dellow. Source: Huronia Museum/ Halsway Manor Library, © Halsway Manor Society Ltd 2001.

Ben.78.1, titled ‘The Cure’, appears to be a loose variation of the traditional tune ‘The
Perfect Cure’,653 although it is possible that the tune was adopted into the traditional
repertoire following popularity as a song or dance in the mid-nineteenth-century. The
tune’s popularity can be seen in the arrangement of a quadrille dance set in 1860 by
Coote, ‘Coote’s Cure Lancers’,654 and as a song called ‘Perfect Cure’ (Figure 61).655 It
appears to have been part of the musichall repertoire as a lithographed cover of the
sheet music dated 1861, shows music-hall performer J H Stead.656 Only the cover isshown so the melody cannot be verified. The visit to BL confirmed the tune to be avague variant of ‘The Reg’lar Cure’, written by Charles Sloman.

650

Bennett’s melody was verified as matching during BL visit. T. H. Bayly, T. A. Rawlings, and Charles
Shapland Whitmore, Isle of Beauty, Fare Thee Well. Ballad., (London: Musical Bouquet, 1865).
651
The embellishments in bar 4 differ. William Winter, William Winter Music Manuscript Book, (Halsway
Manor Library, Halsway Manor Centre for the Folk Arts, 1848-50).
652
Woolfe, William Winter's Quantocks Tune Book, p. 2.
653
Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'The Perfect Cure', Traditional Tune Archive (2015)<http://tunearch.org/> [accessed 1 March 2016].
654
Goucher College Digital Library, 'Coote's Cure Lancers', Goucher College Digital Library (No date)<http://cdm16235.contentdm.oclc.org> [accessed 17 March 2018].
655
The Spellman Collection of Victorian Music Covers (The University of Reading), 'Song of the Perfect
Cure', vads (No date) <https://vads.ac.uk> [accessed 29 January 2018].
656
Ibid.

154

Figure 61 : ‘Song of The Perfect Cure’. Source: https://vads.ac.uk. The University of Reading, Special Collections.

The inclusion of a tune towards the end of the manuscript which is frequently
associated with America, ‘Britannia the Pride of the Ocean’ (Ben.26.3, Ben.127.1),
could suggest that this section of the manuscript was transcribed after 1874, once
Bennett had settled in Canada, but this is not necessarily so. There are numerous
versions of the tune in BL having been published in London, not just in piano music
sheets, but found amongst the uncatalogued contents of the instrumental collections,657

listing the tune as a “favourite national air”.658 In 1855 Montgomery ‘composed’ aquadrille set on the tune, known as the ‘British Navy Quadrilles’,659 and its inclusion in
the play Black Eyed Susan described as “the most performed play of the 19th- century
that had been written in that century”,660 and its celebrity connections (Figure 62)
must have aided its popularity.661

657

For example in publications by Boosey and Chappell: Case, One Hundred Ballads for the Violin;
Rimbault, Chappell's 100 Popular Songs, National Airs, &C., Arranged for the Flute by E. F. Rimbault.
658
British Library Catalogue, 'The Red, White and Blue, National Song. [P. F.] 1857', British Library (Nodate) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018].
659
W. H Montgomery, The Red, White and Blue, or British Navy Quadrilles. [P. F.], (London, 1855). The
Musical Bouquet catalogue also lists a quadrille called ‘British Navy Quadrilles’ by Jules Normann(published by MB), and Jullien wrote a set called ‘The British Army Quadrilles’ (published MB). Slatter,'Welcome to the Musical Bouquet'.
660
Colin Blumenau, 'Director's View - Black Eyed Susan', Theatre Royal (No date)<http://theatreroyal.s3.amazonaws.com> [accessed 18 March 2018].
661
Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations, 'Britannia the Pride of the Ocean! The
Red, White, and Blue. Sung by Mr. E. L. Davenport, at All the Principal Theatres, in the Drama of BlackEyed Susan', Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections; Washington State University Libraries;
Pullman, WA, USA (No date) <http://content.libraries.wsu.edu> [accessed 20 March 2018].

155

Figure 62 : ‘Britannia The Pride of the Ocean’. Source: Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections; http://content.libraries.wsu.edu.

Overall
Pre 1750
1750-1830
Cat. 3x
Post 1830
Carol
Religious
Art
Pedagogic
Other

Figure 63 : The total 'Depth' of tunes from the case-study MSS.

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Bennett
Till

Figure 64 : The total tune 'Width' distribution across the case-study MSS.

156

Carol

Other

Reel

Pedagogic

Quick Step

Galop

Varsoviana

Hymn

March

Opera

Schottische

Minstrel SongCountry Dance

National Air

Polka

Popular Ballad

Waltz

Hornpipe

Quadrille

HamptonAs Figure 63 shows, a clear dominance of category 3, ‘Later Dance or Song Melodies’ isrevealed (73% including category 3x, 62% without). Looking at the overall ‘width’(Figure 64), the compilers were favouring the dance genres of quadrille, hornpipe,
waltz and polka. Preferred song genres appear to be popular song, ‘national’ songs,
and minstrel songs. That said, two main genre differences stand out between the twoearlier rural manuscripts and the later, urban one of Hampton. Hampton MS has amuch larger proportion of tunes from the historic category and excludes quadrilles
entirely. This is likely a result of a number of factors reflecting changing fashion,
personal preference, suitability to instrument, function and context in which the men
performed and the availability and access to sources.
It is important to note that the higher proportion of quadrilles is due to one quadrillebeing made up of a set of several tunes. If the calculation is made using quadrille sets
rather than the individual tunes, the total is seven.662 Whilst not altering the overall
dominance of contemporary songs and dance tunes, this would place quadrilles ineighth place, making the hornpipe the most dominant genre. This popularity of
hornpipes is interesting as they are not an obvious part of the social dance repertoire,
and their position in the manuscripts and wider musical milieu is explored in Chapter 5.
The results have shown that a wide and varied repertoire existed within the
manuscripts. The compilers were not exclusively transcribing historic dance tunes, yet
it is clear that older, historic tunes were also in circulation and favoured. However,there is a preference for modern, newly composed tunes from across a wide breadthof styles, taken from their contemporaneous field.

A Heterogeneous Repertoire
The results show that the repertoire found in these post-1850 case-studies is not
exclusively historic, and it transpires that these manuscripts are not unusual in this.
Looking beyond the evidence in the three case studies, it becomes clear that aneclectic mix of age and style of melody is the norm. This is not only true of othermanuscripts, but also in wider Victorian musical practices. Both Gammon andCampbell accept the manuscripts comprise material other than historical dance tunes.
662

This number excludes four items listed as quadrilles in Appendix B which are do not form complete
sets: One individual quadrille tune at the end of Bennett MS (Ben.130.2), an individual lancer inTill/Clutterbuck MS (Til.35.1), and Til.34.1-Til.34.2.

157

Gammon chose to highlight and separate out one particular compiler in his study,
Turner, as “his manuscripts do not typify the generality of dance music that we caninfer was performed in rural Sussex”, containing, “up to the moment dance tunes andquadrille sets from the mid-nineteenth century”.663 It must be remembered that at thetime Gammon was writing, he was working with a much smaller selection of sources,
not having access to VMP catalogue.
Turner’s manuscript differs from Gammon’s other sources perhaps as it was the mostrecent manuscript in his study. However, evidence from Campbell suggests this isactually typical, and the inclusion of popular, “up to the moment”,664 tunes and songs
occur in the older manuscripts as well. Campbell identifies a “non-genre-boundreflection of the music of the era”,665 in the Atkinson manuscript, believed to be theearliest extant English ‘Fiddlers’ Tunebook’, dating from 1694. Indeed, a chief theme inCampbell’s work is the broad range of repertoire, with Campbell arguing that:the evidence uncovered by this study demonstrates the wide, eclectic nature of
the repertoires of the compilers of the manuscripts and how many of their
melodies lie outside what is accepted today as the traditional music canon.
These pieces are, to use William Chappell’s descriptor, ‘the popular music of
the olden time’.666
Yates’ investigation into nineteenth-century Manx manuscripts also acknowledges abroad range of repertoire,667 as does the Rose manuscript.668 Discussing dance,
Rippon recognises an eclectic mix, perhaps unsurprisingly corroborated by themanuscripts’ contents reflecting exactly the fusion he describes:
The dance repertoire was never consciously 'folk' or 'non-folk' (or 'English' or'Scottish' for that matter) as it is in our revivalist functions. Rather it was a
mixture of all sorts of things-an old country dance, an old-fashioned version of'The Lancers', a favourite couple dance, a quickstep-and therefore a genuine
continuation of the traditional process…669

663

Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 60.
Ibid.
665
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 140.
666
Ibid. p. 9.
667
Yates, 'Excavating Notes: The Archaeology of Canon Formation in Manx Music', p. 104.
668
Thompson and Laycock, Benjamin's Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of BenjaminRose, p. 10.
669
Hugh Rippon, Discovering English Folk Dance, (Aylesbury: Shire Publications, 1975), p. 54.
664

158

In the field of popular music, the idea of an amalgamation of genres is accepted as
normal.670 The broad tastes catered for in the popular music field can be seen in thewide range of printed published music. This is true across the sources specific todifferent popular musical practices such as the brass band repertoire,671 and the
Drawing-room genre,672 as well as in the sources specific to the compilers. Take forexample the MB series which caters for the popular music market serving bothamateur monophonic instrumentalists and the Drawing-room genre, via different
publications.
These accessible, printed popular compilations and music-sheets were immensely
widespread and popular in the nineteenth-century amateur music market. They
comprised amongst other genres, both existing and newly composed lancers,
quadrilles, waltzes, polkas and varsoviana. Additionally, MB published historic dancetunes, excerpts from art music such as Beethoven, Mozart and Italian opera, alongside‘National Airs’, musichall and minstrel songs and “polite moves towards ragtime andjazz”.673
There is a large gap in both general and academic literature regarding nineteenthcentury publications serving the vernacular musical market, including the extensive MB
publications, which it transpires are a vitally important part of this study. Gammond,writing the preface to Slatter’s extensive online research,674 notes the absence ofmusical and historical study in this area:
Sadly, you are unlikely to find very much written information about the‘Musical Bouquet’. It is difficult to understand why, for it is a rich source of
valuable obscure information. I can be proud to say that I am almost certainly ararity among musicologists in having written anything at all about the series. 675
MB’s chief market was participants of the Drawing-room genre, and there is an evengreater paucity of academic material on those publications which are specifically
670

Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. viii. Pearsall,
Victorian Popular Music, p. 123. Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 10 &185.
671
Herbert, 'The Repertory of a Victorian Provincial Brass Band.', pp. 123-31; Taylor, English Brass Bands
and Their Music, 1860-1930.
672
Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour.
673
Peter Gammond, 'Peter Gammond's Essay', Musical Bouquet (2011)<http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk/peter-gammond> [accessed 15 October 2015].
674
Slatter, 'Welcome to the Musical Bouquet'.
675
Gammond, 'Peter Gammond's Essay'.

159

aimed at the amateur monophonic instrumentalists. Such publications, it transpires
are of vital importance in this research and become the focus of Chapter 4.
Causes of a Heterogeneous Repertoire
The outward transmission, or function, fulfilled by the musicians would undoubtedly
have had a large impact on the selection and thus diversity of repertoire. For example,
selecting hornpipes could result from accompanying step-dancers in the local pub andquadrilles and waltzes to accompany informal and formal dances. It is also feasible thatthe function was more simply for personal enjoyment and entertainment, the inclusionof a song or waltz having no other purpose other than it was popular and the compiler
liked it or wanted to learn it. Outward transmission is discussed in Chapter 5 and thissection of the chapter looks beyond outlets or functions in which the amateur
musicians were likely participants. It considers broader auditory influences to observe
if the eclectic mix in the manuscripts reflects what was being heard in the wider
popular soundscape of England.
Contemporary writer, Mayhew shows the diverse combination of style and genre in
the repertoire of the ubiquitous street organ.676 It is significant to observe thecommonality between this broad assortment of musical genres and the manuscript
repertoire.
There is two ‘Liverpool Hornpipe’. I know one these twenty years. Then com‘The Ratcatcher’s Daughter’; he is a English song. It’s get a little old; but whenit’s first come out the poor people do like it, but the gentlemens they like more
the opera, you know. After that is what you call ‘Minnie’, another English song.
He is middling popular. He is not one of the new tune, but they do like it. The
next one is a Scotch contre-danse. It is good tunes, but I don’t know the nameof it. The next one is, I think, a polka; but I think he’s made from part of‘Scotische’. There is two or three tunes belongs to the ‘Scotische’. The next one
is, I think, a valtz of Vienna. I don’t know which one, but I say to the organman,‘I want a valtz of Vienna’; and he say, ‘Which one? Because there is plenty ofvaltz of Vienna’. Of course, there is nine of them. After the opera music, thevaltz and the polka is the best music in the organ…It won’t do to have all opera
music in my organ. You must have some opera tunes for the gentlemen, and

676

Mayhew was a journalist writing mid-nineteenth-century describing the conditions of the poor: MaryL Shannon, 'Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor', Discovering Literature: Romantics
and Victorians, (No date), <https://www.bl.uk> [accessed 21 April 2016]. There is much content
crossover, for example, opera, schottisches and valses appear in all three manuscripts. More specifically,‘Liverpool Hornpipe’ is Ham.3.1 and ‘The Ratcatcher’s Daughter’, Ham.9.2.

160

some for the poor people, and they like the dancing tune. Dere is some for the
gentlemens and some for the poor peoples.677
This description of an everyday popular urban soundscape reflects the repertoire
found in the manuscripts. The informant’s hierarchical exclusion of opera is interesting
to note, as this is not echoed in the evidence presented below or in the manuscripts,
and becomes the topic of discussion later in the chapter.
The popular musical culture and soundscape could be heard in the concerts, Music
Halls and singing saloons of towns and cities. The compilers did not necessarily haveaccess to such events,678 but the effect of these entertainment venues percolated into
the manuscripts. Some of the most influential are discussed below.
Promenade Concerts
The Promenade Concerts, appealing to both the upper middle class,679 as well as to thelower middle class, were likely not attended by the demographic represented by thecompilers due to cost.680 However, the influence of their repertoire reached theamateur musicians, if not directly then indirectly. Concert programmes show that theevents consisted of popular dance music (waltzes, polkas (or galops pre-1840) and
quadrilles),681 mixed with more middle and higher brow art music items.
In 1840, concert promoter and conductor, Jullien, came to London and ran a series of‘concerts l’ete’ at Drury Lane,682 and by 1844 Jullien and his concerts were wellestablished and highly considered. A theatrical showman, Jullien would include his
own waltzes, quadrilles and polkas in these concerts, alongside popular ballads andclassical items.683 He toured extensively around the larger cities in England, influencing
not only the compilers, but other conductors and promoters in London and

677

Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor (London: Griffin, Bohn and Company, 1861), p.
176.
678This is discussed in depth in Chapter 6.
679
Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 214.
680
Pearsall states that admission was 1 shilling, which is shown in Chapter 6 to be prohibitive. Pearsall,
Victorian Popular Music, p. 127. Although Russell does document one working-class man saving his
dinner money in order to attend concerts: Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social
History, p. 78.
681
As seen in numerous newspaper articles, see examples given in Chapter 5.
682
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 41.
683'Jullien’s Concert and Fete at the Zoological Gardens ', Western Daily Press, 5 July 1858
<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017].

161

nationwide. As a member of the population in Victorian England, it would be difficult
not to be aware of him and his concerts. In 1845 Jullien put on concerts monstres,684 inwhich his orchestra numbered four hundred players, three brass bands, and included
specially made nine-foot-long trumpets.685 His mix of repertoire, showmanship andsensational approach to music led him to be called a ‘musical Luther’ by Musical Worldin 1859. Russell suggests this may be an exaggeration, but at the very least it ‘point[s]up his importance as populariser and educator’.686 Within the manuscripts, thereflection of corresponding repertoire is profoundly evident. Much of the repertoire in
all three manuscripts comprises galops, waltzes, polkas, schottische and in the earlier
two, quadrilles. Furthermore, the repertoire includes Jullien’s eponymouscompositions namely: Jullien’s ‘Royal Irish Quadrilles’ (Til.14.1-Til.17.1 and Ben.130.2)
and ‘Jullien’s Original Polka’ (Ben.129.1 & Ben.129.2).
Chappell & Boosey’s Concerts
Another form of popular concert emerged, again in London, although the repertoire
travelled to the provinces and clearly reached the rural compilers. In 1855 theabundant capacity at Crystal Palace facilitated a large audience and hence was able tooffer cheap admission, a fact which was not lost to music publisher: Chappell. In 1858
he began a concert series which was to last forty years, called the ‘Pops’.687 These
Monday concerts,688 were replicated in 1865 with Saturday afternoon ‘Pops’. In 1867,
Boosey introduced his highly successful London Ballad Concerts, mixing popular, light,
old and new songs using celebrity singers.689 It is difficult to ascertain admission priceto these concerts, as a proxy measure of accessibility to the demographic represented
by the compilers, although contemporary newspaper articles give the impression thatthe audience were not especially from the working classes.690 Furthermore, the vocal
nature of the concerts would have been more appealing to the participants of the
Drawing-room genre. That said, examples of popular song can be seen in the
684

Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 42.
685
Pearsall, Victorian Popular Music, p. 128.
686
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 78.
687
E. D. Mackerness, A Social History of English Music, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964), p.
178.
688
These were held in St James’ Hall, which had also been financed by Chappell. Scott, The Singing
Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 122.
689
Ibid.
690
'Mr John Boosey's Ballad Concerts', The Era, 22 March 1868, <www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>[accessed 12 March 2018].

162

manuscripts and the crossover with the Drawing-room genre repertoire has alreadybeen established. Hence an indirect influence into the manuscripts is plausible.691
Minstrel Troupes
Minstrel songs from the ‘blackface’ minstrel troupes were a popular genre withwidespread appeal across the social and geographical boundaries.692 The repertoire
appeared in many respectable concert programs, through to Music Halls, on the street
via the barrel organ, and in sheet-music form for the domestic market. Minstrel music
was at its most popular during the 1850s - 1870s,693 exactly in line to influence ourcompliers’ output.
The influence of ‘blackface’ minstrelsy can be seen in all three of the case-study
manuscripts’ repertoire, some of which have been highlighted above, and are detailedin Figure 65 below.
MS
HamptonTill
Bennett

Reference
Ham.9.5
Ham.10.2
Ham.10.5
Ham.11.1
Ham.11.4
Ham.13.3
Til.42.1
Ben.78.2
Ben.92.1
Ben.112.2

Title
Mollie Darling
The Gipsy’s Warning‘Tis But A Little Faded Flower
The Little Brown Jug
The Empty Cradle
The Ship That Never Returned
Rosalie Prairie Flower
Massas In the Cold Ground
Mother I’ve Come Home To Die
Poly Won’t You Try Me O!

Figure 65 : Influence of Minstrel Troupes in the case-study MSS.

Music Halls and Singing Saloons
Originating slightly later in the century (1851), than the Promenade Concerts, but
running alongside, the Music Halls offered cheaper entrance at 3d.694 This possibly
made such entertainment accessible to upper-working classes, and hence a potential

691

See Appendix B for details of the vocal material included in the manuscripts.
Michael Pickering, Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain (Abingdon and New York: Routledge 2016).
693
Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 83.
694
Ibid. p. 220. Scott describes how entrance to a West End Music Hall cost 6d, walking slightly East in
Stepney, admission cost was 4d and further afield, even cheaper admission prices could be found. Scott,Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris,
and Vienna, p. 20.
692

163

direct influence for some urban or visiting rural compilers.695 Russell refutes
Middleton’s claim that it was “the principal source of musical entertainment for mosturban working lower-middle-class people in the second half of the century”, and statesthat the phenomenon was London-centric.696 However, towards the end of the
century, the Music Hall was brought closer to the rural and provincial compilers via“nationwide touring circuits”.697 Furthermore, larger pubs emulated the Music Hall
experience in their singing saloons, (which Russell dates as well-established by the1840s),698 to the point that by the 1880s, “the distinction between a public housesinging saloon and a music hall was never a clear one”.699
Scott quantifies the popularity of musichall in terms of the number of acts quoted byMusical Era, showing an increase from 862 acts in 1868 to a massive 1896 acts by
1878.700. This period of dramatic growth is likely to have been witnessed by thecompilers, and doubtless bore some direct or indirect influence on their repertoire.
Additionally, the influence was broadened by the production of commodities such as
cheap music-sheets and publications, rather than necessarily through attendance
itself. Subsequently, musichall can be seen to be influencing the compilers’ repertoire
namely, ‘Champaign [sic] Charlie’ (Til.43.1), ‘I’ll be There Love At Half Past Nine’(Til.44.2), and ‘A Cure’ (Ben.78.1).
On a more local level, the manuscripts’ eclectic content is mirrored in the concerts
held at the Mechanics’ Institutes and Penny Readings. These concerts were aimed atand sometimes even participated in by the working classes and lower middle classes

695

Russell cautions against the “dangerously simplistic” assumption that these venues were the domain
in audience, performers and composers of the working class. However, in audience terms, he finds thechief demographic during the earlier years to be similar to that of the manuscript compilers, males intheir twenties although records suggest boys as young as twelve years old attended, with an increase infemale attendance throughout the century. He concurs that the audience “was probably always theworking class and the lower middle class…”, with the more respectable of those being the attendees, as
the poorest would be unable to afford suitable clothing to attend nor drinks once inside, and goes on toquote a Liverpool concert founder that two-thirds of the poor would not have been to a Music Hall,“Their almost sole “music-hall” is the Italian organ…”. Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A
Social History, pp. 91-92.
696
Ibid. p. 83.
697
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 19.
698
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 25.
699
Ibid. p. 84.
700
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 16.

164and are discussed in Chapter 5 regarding outward transmission. Likewise, a similar
scope of repertoire can be seen in dance programmes, whether a grand tenants’ ballor a smaller event, although by the very nature of the subject, the historical record of
the most informal events is of course rarely recorded. The wider soundscape whichsurrounded the compilers reflects the eclectic mix and accounts for the inclusion ofcertain types of music in the manuscripts’ repertoire.
Specific Genres of Note within the Repertoire
As part of the broad scope of genre contained within the manuscripts (andcorrespondingly within the printed material and in the wider auditory backdrop), areexamples of art music and historic tunes as well as contemporary repertoire. This isreflective of wider popular taste, and their inclusion in the manuscripts andimplications is explored below.
Art Music
It becomes clear that art music was not the exclusive domain of the upper classes but
was popular, enjoyed and widespread across all levels of society. Similar influences ofart music can be found in the extensive music-sheets which form the Drawing-roomgenre market and the brass band repertoire. Herbert cites a selection from Bellini’s
opera La Sonnambula, including ‘All Is Lost’ (Ben.79.1), as part of the brass band
repertoire, along with many other examples of art music alongside other sharedcontributors such as D’Albert, Montgomery, Musgrave and Coote.701 In the MB sheetmusic catalogue alone (i.e. excluding MB’s other publications and music bookcollections, and other publishers), arrangements of Donizetti’s work appear forty-threetimes.702 This suggests that operatic works of this nature were a popular genre toarrange and publish within the budget popular music market. Not only is thisinteresting from a repertoire perspective, but it shows that the amateur popular
musicians, whether representing the Drawing-room genre, brass bands or monophonicinstrumentalists, from whichever class, were sourcing their art music not throughspecific art music collections, but through printed sources aimed at specific markets.

701

Herbert, 'The Repertory of a Victorian Provincial Brass Band.', pp. 123-31.
Mervyn Slatter, 'The Catalogue - Search Term 'Donizetti'', (2017)<http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk/the-catalogue> [accessed 25 April 2017].
702

165

Campbell’s oddly facetious comment: “much of the contents may be described as ‘art’music. (What music is not?)”,703 is not reflected in my research. Some examples of art
music are found as part of the eclectic mix, but they by no means dominate thecontent. That said, examples can be found in all three manuscripts, for example: ‘The
Rigoletto Waltz’ (Ham.9.3), ‘Lucrezia Borgia Waltz’ (Ham.9.4), ‘Ciascun Lo Dice’(Til.40.1), ‘Poopagena Waltz’ (Til.51.1), and ‘All Is Lost’ (Ben.79.1). My research has
found that the art music found in the manuscripts frequently takes the form of motifs
from well-liked works, rearranged into popular forms, often as waltzes, or re-produced
as song extracts. The relationship between art music and folk music is examined by
Gelbart who identifies that the distinction between the two genres was a relatively
new concept, as until the early eighteenth-century music was categorised by its
function.704 Interestingly, and perhaps intentionally, this idea appears to have gone fullcircle as in 2010, Marsh defines his discussion with regards to function, rather thanreferring explicitly to folk or non-folk music in a categorical sense.705 Despite being infavour of non-genre specific titles for the eclectic repertoire, as the thesis will show, atleast from the mid-nineteenth-century onwards this music cannot necessarily be
attributed to an exclusive function. The accompaniment of formal and informal
dancing may be a legitimate function, as might the music existing for its own sake, as apersonal, aesthetic, entertaining activity.
Campbell identifies the filtration and social mobility of music interacting in both
directions, developing a theory introduced by Gammon as Burke’s ‘sinking’ and ‘rising’
theory.706 Campbell describes the manuscripts as forming “an interface between thehigh and low brow, containing elements of each. They are a reflection of society rather
than place”.707 I disagree and see the inclusion of art music amongst popular music issimply a reflection of what was widely favoured at the time. Furthermore, as alluded
to above and which becomes clear in the following chapter, the manuscript compilers
were gathering the art music from contemporary popular music publications,703

Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 23.
704
Gelbart, The Invention of “Folk Music” and “Art Music” : Emerging Categories from Ossian to Wagner,
p. 9.
705
Marsh, Music and Society in Early Modern England, p. 328.
706
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', pp. 238-39.
707
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 59.

166

alongside all the other genres found in their repertoire. Moreover, these same
publishing houses were distributing this consistently wide-ranging repertoire insources specifically aimed at differing demographics. It is not, therefore filtration,
more a ‘pot’ or fusion of genres, partially dictated by the power of commercialism,
driven by the publishers.708 Whether the compilers are playing quadrilles from thearistocracy’s grand balls, country dances from the village fair’s dancing booths,709
songs from the minstrel troupes and Music Halls and Mozart and Donizetti from theopera house, they are essentially playing that which was popular. Likewise, the ladies
from the higher occupational class Drawing-room genre played a similar repertoire. It
is not representative of a vertical two-way filtration, more a horizontal pool fromwhich to draw repertoire and thus the social filtration argument is invalid.
Historic Tunes in ‘Raw’ Form
Despite the dominance of contemporary popular material, historic tunes also comprisepart of the diverse repertoire. Many of the historic tunes are presented in the
manuscripts in a way which renders them recognisable today by musicians who playtunes which received history might present as folk tunes. Likewise, tunes from earlier
manuscript and printed dance tune collections and manuals from previous centuries
appear familiar. They bear a strong resemblance melodically, rhythmically andstructurally in both the manuscripts and in current tune repositories. Rather than the
melody being taken as a motif and arranged into a wider composition, such as occurs
with the examples of art music, the dance tunes appear in their entirety, their simple
melodic eight bar phrases set in the typical AABB structure.
Within the case-studies, tunes of this sort are more prevalent in the most recent
Hampton MS. It is fascinating to see tunes written down (and presumably played) by
Thomas Hampton which are instantly recognisable and still part of the repertoire of his
great-great-great granddaughters,710 nearly one hundred and fifty years on. Similarly,that they can be found in printed or manuscript collections over one hundred years
prior to appearing in the manuscript demonstrates a remarkable longevity for the708

It is revealed in Chapter 4 that the sources for this eclectic mix emanate from published music.
Or indeed country dances from the aristocracy’s grand balls and quadrilles from the fair’s dancing
booths!
710
Two of my daughters are musicians - one a fiddle player, another, a flautist and both select tunes
from the manuscript to absorb into their repertoire and are as such contributing to the survival of
specific tunes and playing a part in the process of folk music tradition.
709

167

certain tunes. There are several examples, which can be seen in Appendix A andAppendix B (category 1a). An example would be Ham.5.3, ‘College Hornpipe’ which
although popular in nineteenth-century printed music and manuscripts,711 can beshown to have earlier origins, dating from at least the mid-eighteenth-century.712
Sources examined in the following chapter would suggest that some of these historic
dances were viewed by the contemporary compilers as dance tunes, such as ‘Country
Dances’ or ‘Scottish Reels’. By using this term, I do not mean to imply that thecompilers attributed a specific function to these tunes via their title. Rather that thetitles do not imply a conscious interest by the compilers in historical tunes or tunes
which were important to them because they represented a tradition. Instead, they
represent a repertoire which was popular, regardless of age, origin or whether they
were actually used to accompany dance or not.
A similar observation can be made in the song genre, for example the aforementioned
items, Til.34.1 and Til.34.2 which despite having origins dating back at least to the lateeighteenth-century, have reappeared and become re-popularised, re-entering the midnineteenth-century repertoire by way of textual publication. It is of course possiblethat their longevity is the result of being kept alive by continuous generations ofmusicians. Their resurfacing via a textual medium could be in addition to
undocumented aural/oral (or indeed a lost, textual) practice.
Historic Tunes in Contemporary Structures
The recycling or ‘reinvention’ of historic tunes into a popular contemporary structure
can also be seen in the manuscripts. In a similar way that a popular motif taken fromart music is morphed into a popular dance structure, composers were taking historic
tunes and incorporating them into the framework of a dance, most usually, quadrilles.
Such re-deployment of pre-existing tunes within contemporary form is seen in theform of quadrille sets in Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett MSS, for example: Til.14.1Til.17.1; Til.25.1-Til.29.1; Ben.25.1-Ben.29.1; Ben.59.1-Ben.64.1, Ben.130.2. All thesetune sets are strongly based on historical tunes, still existing in the current traditional
711

In Winder’s MSS variants exists called the ‘Sailor’s Hornpipe 1746’, and ‘Chipping Fair’ (Edward
Winder’s Book (1833-1835)), and two variants of ‘Chipping Fair’ in John Winder’s book (1789). Hornby,
The Winders of Wyresdale, pp. 145, 49, 50. Also found in Rose (Bb and A),Thompson and Laycock,
Benjamin's Book : The Complete Country Dance Manuscript of Benjamin Rose, pp. 43, 49.
712
It is dated in Edward Winder’s book dated as 1746. Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale, p. 149.

168

or folk music repertoire. For example, despite Till/Clutterbuck’s generic titles Til.14.1Til.17.1,713 can be identified as a widespread printed quadrille set,714 (Figure 66),
‘composed’, or more truthfully, compiled by Jullien and published as ‘The Royal Irish
Quadrilles’, comprising older tunes generally thought to be of Irish origin.

Figure 66 : ‘Royal Irish Quadrilles’. Source: http://collections.vam.ac.uk.

In the manuscript the first tune is titled as ‘Set of Quadrilles’ with ‘1 st Figure’ given as a
sub-title to the first tune. The subsequent three tunes are also labelled as part of thedance set, named 2nd, 3rd and 4th Figure respectively. Til.15.1 and Til.17.1 are identified
with titles (‘Girl I Left behind Me’ and ‘Irish Washerwoman’) and although Til.14.1 andTil.16.1 are untitled they can be identified as ‘Black Joak’ or ‘Sprig of Shillelagh’ and‘Nora Creina’.
D’Albert also employed this practice. Til.25.1–Til.29.1,715 can be identified as D’Albert’s‘Bonnie Dundee Quadrille’. He has constructed the quadrille set and arranged thetunes accordingly but has taken the basic melodic and rhythmic structures from known
and named pre-existing tunes thought to have Scottish roots.716 It could be argued that713

Please refer to Appendix A.
Victoria & Albert Museum, 'The Royal Irish Quadrilles', V&A (2017) <http://collections.vam.ac.uk/>[accessed 12 March 2018].
715
See Appendix A.
716
The individual melodies are identified as ‘Bonnie Dundee’, ‘Kelvin Grove’, ‘Over The Sea’ and ‘Jessie,
Flower O’Dunblane’, ‘Jock O’Hazeldean’ and ‘Of A’ The Airts The Win’Can Blaw’. Identified via a pianomusic sheet: Temple Sheet Music Collections, 'Bonnie Dundee Quadrille', Temple University Libraries (Nodate) <http://digital.library.temple.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15037coll1/id/111> [accessed 24 April2017].
714

169the re-use of historic tunes demonstrates bad practice on behalf of the composers,
claiming authorship of anonymous tunes and profiting from their use.
The existence of some historic tunes in the manuscripts, in whatever form, perhaps
explains the interest generated amongst today’s folk music enthusiasts. However, thewide range of repertoire they contain cannot (and must not), be ignored.717 This
chapter has shown that the eclectic mix reflects wider popular taste and the question
remains as to how this affects the contents of the manuscripts in relation to belonging
to folk music tradition.

Folk Music Tradition and a Heterogeneous Repertoire?
As discussed in Chapter 1, perceived notions concerning the factors that constitute afolk tune vary throughout history. Concerning origin and style, inherited ideas exist
which suggest a folk tune is required to be un-attributable to a named composer andantonymic to commercial and urban popular music. The results revealed in thischapter, and shown in Figure 63, demonstrate that the compilers selected theirrepertoire from a broad scope of both origin and genre. Moreover, the manuscripts’
chief content comprised songs and melodies whose origins were contemporaneouswith the manuscripts or at the very most could be traced back only as far as 1830. The
contents do not, in the main, comply with the notions set out above. Instead, themanuscripts’ repertoire represents music that was popular at the time of compilation.
This is important, as if the manuscripts are to be defined by their contents’ origin, theinterest they generate in the current folk music field could cause them to be subject tothe ‘burden of expectation’ or to be disregarded. However, Chapter 1 also set out themore catholic approach taken by recent scholars, and an earlier scholar: Kidson.718 The
acceptance of any tune, whether a popular and newly composed dance tune or song,art music, or from unknown, possibly historic origins, to become drawn into folk
tradition, and hence classed as folk music, becomes possible. The content is no longer
defined by origins or style, but by the process it has gone through to be selected by amusician, accepted by a community and survived. Roud explicitly notes the validity ofcommercially produced, popular songs to become part of folk tradition:

717
718

For the reasons set out in Chapter 1.
Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', p. 82.

170

Most songs which were later recorded as folk songs were not written by thesinging and dancing throng, or by ploughboys, milkmaids, miners or weavers,
but by professional or semi-professional urban song-writers and poets. Manysongs started life on the stage, in the pleasure garden, concert room, tavern ormusic hall, and we shall never understand folk song without taking account ofthese other kinds of music. But what matters is that, of all the songs available
at any given time, the ploughboys, milkmaids, miners and weavers took hold of
some, and liked them enough to learn and sing them, to make them their own
and pass them on, and this makes them well worthy of our notice .719
Thus, despite the traditionally unconventional attributes and origins of much of themanuscripts’ content, a modern scholarly approach would advocate that theheterogeneous repertoire found in these post-1850 manuscripts comprises tunes
which could be considered to form part of folk music tradition.
As such, the historic tunes would be considered as folk melodies, as regardless ofwhether they have known or unknown composers or origins, they have survived morethan two generations in the repertoire of amateur instrumentalists. That would
suggest that under such terms, 19% (30% if including category 3x) of the manuscripts’
content comprises folk melody. The oldest category, pre-1750, makes up 10% of
repertoire. Despite not having comparable dating parameters, it is nonethelessinteresting to observe Roud’s statistics in the song field which show even fewer
historic songs surviving. He found that the percentage of pre-1700 songs surviving in
nineteenth and twentieth-century song repertoire amounted to less than 5%, theremainder having more modern origins.720
Equally, the more recent, popular tunes found in the tunebooks have the capacity to‘become’ part of folk music tradition if they are subsequently selected by future
generations. Essentially, they are embryonic or potential folk tunes – yet to go throughthe process of tradition, or perhaps ‘in the process’ of going through the process of
tradition. As such, the textual nature of the manuscripts provides a synchronic capture
and thus a valuable insight into the progression from a contemporary popular tune
into a folk melody when viewed retrospectively in the context of subsequent (and

719
720

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 13.
Ibid. p. 22.

171

current) instrumental players’ repertoire. The manuscripts enable the inner working of
Roud’s ‘sausage machine’ to be viewed.721
The re-use of historic tunes in contemporary structures by composers such as D’Albert
and Jullien, must have had an impact on the interplay between contemporary andhistoric repertoires and on the transmission and popularity of the tunes, possibly
causing them to remain in circulation. Therefore, this practice could be a contributory
factor as to why the historic tunes were re-emerging rather than necessarily the resultof the selection and survival through the traditional process. That said, evidence fromother eighteenth and nineteenth-century manuscripts and printed tunebooks would
suggest that historic tunes were known and in circulation prior to 1850s and 1860s, 722
so a continual survival is entirely feasible. Furthermore, if the composers wereselecting these tunes to represent national identities, as suggested by their titles, itwould be strange to do so if the tunes were generally unknown or from such a historic
age that they had fallen out of popular use. To work effectively in the role in which
they were placed, it makes sense that the tunes chosen would be known contextually,
popular and widely understood to represent a specific identity.
However, both the ‘re-introduction’ of historic items via assimilation into
contemporary forms (for example as seen in the quadrilles discussed above), and theextensive publication of historic tunes in their ‘raw’ form, via the popular press may,paradoxically weaken the manuscripts’ place in notions of folk music tradition. It
cannot be assumed that their presence in the manuscripts is through continuous
survival. This may place such melodies at the beginning of the process of tradition,rather than as a result of such a process. It is possible that their existence in the
manuscripts results from being forced into re-circulation by the publishers and as suchthey have not been subjected to generations of selection and survival amongst the‘folk’, and instead constitute a revival.723

721

Ibid. p. 671.
See for example the comprehensive tune history given for ‘Irish Washerwoman’, included as part ofJullien’s ‘Royal Irish Quadrilles’ but with a continuous history dating back to at least the eighteenthcentury. Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Irish Washerwoman (1)', Traditional Tune Archive (2017)<http://tunearch.org> [accessed 11 April 2018].
723
This concept, introduced here, is explored in depth in Chapter 4.
722

172

Conclusion
An examination of the manuscripts’ contents, observing the genres and tune
provenance, found that with regards to width and depth, the melodies were made up
of a broad range of dance and song genres with a majority having contemporary
origins rather than being historic melodies. Thus, by their makeup, they do not
represent folk music in an inherited notion of the term, which, rightly or wrongly
would be seeking an abundance of historic melodies. By perceiving the manuscripts as
repositories of popular music and representative of a strand of wider amateur popular
music practice results in the acceptance of their eclectic depth and width. There is no
pre-conception of what the manuscripts should contain; no myth to attempt to fit into.
The weight of expectation is removed, and a more objective analysis can be carriedout.
However, in a modern context, a wide eclectic mix of genres is entirely acceptable aspart of folk music tradition. The popular, contemporary material could be seen to
represent the process of tradition at work, an important and rare synchronic capture.
So too, the manuscripts contain examples of melody which would by modern thought,
be considered to comply with the process of tradition. They have turned into examplesof folk music by their very selection, and by their survival in the manuscripts.
Nonetheless, this chapter has begun to broach the instability of this notion due to there-cycling of historic tunes within mid-late-nineteenth-century print, and the relianceof the compilers on publishers in the selection of their repertoire. It is not known if the
publishers took the historic melodies directly from much older sources, thus jumping
the survival process consequently requiring these historic tunes to be viewed as beingat the start of the process again. Furthermore, even if it could be proven that thehistoric tunes have existed in the process continuously, the act of selection has been
carried out by publishers rather than the amateur instrumentalists themselves, the‘folk’. Does the publishers’ conscious revival of the tunes and the ‘folks’’ lack of control
in the process invalidate the manuscripts’ involvement in the process of tradition?
In view of the burden placed on the manuscripts by their current custodians (the folk
music enthusiasts), by what they perceive folk music should be, combined with thenow potentially unstable role of the manuscripts in the process of tradition, it is173

possible to argue that they should not be considered as part of English folk music
tradition. Instead, they are perhaps better placed as simply representative of a popular
practice in nineteenth-century amateur musical culture. This chapter has shown thatthe eclectic mix alone does not exclude the manuscripts’ inclusion as part of folk music
tradition. However, the compilers’ role in the ‘selection and survival’ may have
implications on the stability of the notion. Chapter 4 develops this issue in the context
of inward transmission and the compilers’ sources to attempt to clarify whether the
potential instability is substantiated.

174

Chapter 4 – Inward Transmission and Source Provenance
Inward transmission refers to the way the tunes were transferred into themanuscripts. In its broadest sense it distinguishes aural/oral transmission from textual
influence although the terms are not mutually exclusive. It is crucial to acknowledge
the prospect that the men had a vast unwritten repertoire, committed to memory
which could have been acquired by aural/oral or textual means of which we have noknowledge. This chapter explores the direct inward transmission methods used by thecompilers - establishing how the tunes were entering the manuscripts and the sources
consulted by the compilers. My findings contrast acutely with inherited views
regarding the role of orality/aurality in folk music, dispelling orality/aurality as a directmeans of transmission into the manuscripts and indicate copying instead. Discoveringthat the tunes were sourced from the contemporary, mass published tune collections,reveals a much-understudied area of musical printed resources. It transpires that thecontemporary, budget publications which fed into the manuscripts were aimed
specifically at an amateur vernacular instrumental market and emanated from large
London publishing houses. Ultimately this shows that despite containing a wide mix oftunes from across a broad spectrum of genres and provenance, the manuscript
compilers were drawing on a body of source material which is narrow in chronologicaland geographical range.

Inward Transmission Methods
Essentially, I wanted to discover whether the tunes were being written from memory
or being copied into the tunebooks. I used a combination of approaches to establish
the most likely methods of transmission. Initially it is important to consider the term
oral/aural transmission. ‘Aural’ is more relevant to the instrumental tune field, and mypreferred term in the thesis, as items are passed on by ear rather than by mouth, yet‘oral’ is the term more generally associated with folk music. There are several different
permutations of the form. For example, a tune can be written down ‘by ear’, at thesame time as it is being played or sung by another musician, thus removing any
memorising element from the exercise. It can be written ‘by ear’ from memory, inwhich case the tune may have entered the mind of the transcriber via either a priortextual route or a prior aural route, or the tune may have existed purely orally andbeen passed down through an oral to aural source and subsequently transcribed. It is175difficult to state categorically that a tune has not had influence of printed text at any
time, so despite the compiler transcribing a tune from either a direct oral source oraurally from memory, ‘oral transmission’ as a term meaning passed downorally/aurally through generations, of course cannot be proven, and is highly
improbable.724
The influence of text on transmission suggests that the rare occasions in thetunebooks, where a tune does appear to have been written from memory or ‘by ear’ itis likely to represent either of the first two possibilities outlined above rather than along line of exclusive aural/oral transmission. As such, the tunes written from memory
are not necessarily representative of an inherited view of an orally/aurally transmitted
tune. This can be seen in the manuscripts. For example Figure 67 shows a shorthandtranscription which might indicate having been written from memory, or by ear.
However, the title indicates the source of the tune is contemporaneous as theschottische was a popular mid-late-nineteenth-century dance, thus a long aural/oralline is unlikely.

Figure 67 : Ham.4.4.

A further possibility exists whereby the tune appears to be written by ear or frommemory but is a tune well known to the compiler and has in fact been hurriedly
copied, perhaps to save time and space, only the ‘bare bones’ required in order tobring the tune back to the musician’s fingers. Figure 67 is equally compelling in thisregard. This idea explaining approximated notational style, incipits and tune fragments
is also put forward by MacPherson when examining the Gairdyn manuscript.725

724
725

For discussion on this in the folk song field see: Atkinson, 'Folk Songs in Print: Text and Tradition'.
MacPherson, 'The Music of the English Country Dance', pp. 108-12.

176

Comparative Visual Evidence
A number of methods were used to establish how the tunes made their way into themanuscripts. Initial assessment was carried out by comparative visual evidence,
observing stylistic indications. A combination of factors was usually, but not always,
present which gave a strong indication that a tune had been copied from a source. This
would include elements such as: neatness, more evenly spaced bar lines, melodic andrhythmic precision and accuracy, fewer corrections and ‘crossing outs’, uniformity of
beaming, the addition of clefs, key and time signatures and accurate repeat markings.
Additionally, varying degrees of detailed stylistic embellishments were added, such as:
markings to denote phrasing, articulation, ornamentation, bowing, dynamics, correct
use of the dal segno, and so on.
For example, Figure 68 shows two tunes from Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript, one which
I have deemed copied (Til.10.1), and one which I believe was written ‘by ear’(Til.44.2).726 Til.10.1 displays evidence of quite intricate musical detail. The tune isneatly transcribed, with a title given. Additionally, Till/Clutterbuck’s use of articulationand staccato markings, clef, key and time signatures and beaming are all features
suggesting the tune is copied.

Figure 68 : Til.10.1 and Til.44.2.

726

See Appendix A for larger images.

177

Conversely, tunes which strongly suggest being written from memory or ‘by ear’, while
they are being performed by another musician, appear more stilted, inaccurate andbasic. The basic melodic and rhythmic structure is transcribed, although notnecessarily in its entirety or completely accurately, the details of the tune perhaps
already known by the transcriber and the notation is acting simply as an aidememoire.727 They can have the appearance of being hastily transcribed, perhaps inshorthand, with the title absent or incorrect, not showing care to neatness andaccuracy. This may indicate a sense of urgency to capture the melodic detail when it isfresh in the compiler’s mind, suggesting a printed or manuscript copy is not visuallyprompting him to insert details such as clefs from the copied source.728 In addition toshowing Til.44.2, I have shown Ham.11.3 (Figure 69). As an example, note the lack of
title (written above the wrong tune), missing time signature, inaccuracies in barringand melodic notation and general lack of neatness.

Figure 69 : Ham.14.2.

See also Ham.4.4 (Figure 67), in which the key signature is omitted, the basic melodic
shape and initial rhythmic ideas are presented but the tune’s transcription exists moreas shorthand than a precisely copied version of a source visible to the scribe.
The comparative visual stylistic analysis suggests that over 90% of the tunes in thethree case-studies appeared to have been directly copied into the manuscripts, as
opposed to being written from memory.
Inaccuracy and Omissions
Before moving on to discuss additional methods of analysis, it is necessary to clarify
that those tunes deemed copied were not always immune from inaccuracy andomission. As an illustration, Ham.1.2 (Figure 70), if judged solely on inaccuracies could
be considered to be written from memory due to musical theory and notational errors:
727
728

This of course, could also be the case if the tune was indeed copied as outlined above.
See Chapter 6 for more evidence of Till/Clutterbuck’s urgency in transcription.

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Figure 70 : Ham.1.2.

For example, in bar 16, a minim would be expected in order to accommodate theupbeat of the next musical phrase. Instead, a dotted minim fills the entire bar and thetranscriber has given the crotchet upbeat a complete bar. Furthermore, the last bar
contains a crotchet, rather than a minim to balance out the anacrusis. That said, thetune is very neatly transcribed, with additional slurring, ornamentation, relatively
evenly spread barring, key and time signatures drawn (although the key signature is
not written on every line as would be expected today). The inaccuracies and slightinconsistencies are, I believe, merely copying errors as the latter factors indicate
copying and moreover, copying from a printed source.
The labour-intensive act of copying combined with the potential urgency to return aprinted copy, mean that small errors and inaccuracies are not surprising. Copying at
the end of a long day, in poor light and perhaps in a hurry to pass on or return theprinted copy or source manuscript, could easily result in this. Thus, the presence ofsome errors does not negate transmission via a textual method.
Stems, Clefs and Signatures
Arguably contradicting my findings regarding the extent of copying are the downward
drawing of stems and the position of the treble clef. All three manuscripts show
inconsistencies. It could be assumed that both treble clef and stem alignment would
be copied from the source, but it appears that personal style and preference was inplay. In Hampton MS, despite obvious differences in their writing skills, both Hampton
and Soobroy draw their downward stems on the right hand side of the note. 729 This is
729

There is one exception in Ham.11.3, corroborating the idea that this tune was added by a guest scribe
as discussed in Chapter 2.

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opposite from today’s convention, and even where a strong prospect of a direct source
is found, showing downward left-hand stems, the compiler draws them on the right.730
Throughout most of Till/Clutterbuck MS the downward stems are drawn on the righthand-side of the note head.731 Likewise, Bennett follows the right-hand downward
trend overall.732
Comparisons with contemporary printed publications show that right-hand downward
stems were not the accepted norm in print. Yet I have found evidence of many othernineteenth-century manuscript compilers writing in the same manner as the casestudy compilers, including evidence from a transcription by Mozart in the lateeighteenth century, Figure 71.733 Mozart draws downward stems on both sides, with apreference for right-hand downward stems on minims or longer.

Figure 71 : Mozart String Quartet in D Major K575. Source: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.

730

Direct sources are explored in depth later in the chapter. They refer to printed sources which havethe potential to be the same edition from which the compiler copied.
731
There is some inconsistency as all but one of the opening hornpipes (Til.2.1 – Til.8.1), are drawn‘correctly’, as per today’s convention.
732
Notable exceptions can be seen in Ben.40.1 and Ben.92.1 clearly both by a different scribe copying a
piano arrangement and Ben.50.1 in the bell ringing sequence notation.
733
British Library, 'Add Ms 37765 1789-1790, Autograph Manuscript of Three of Mozart's String
Quartets', British Library (No date) <http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts>.

180

It has been suggested the custom of downward stems on the left and upward stems on
the right was led by the type-setting printing process due to inverting a note making
the type more versatile,734 and it appears that manuscript convention or personal
preference was to keep all the stems, whether up or down on the right-hand side.
Clef and musical signature usage is also an interesting feature. Today and in midnineteenth-century contemporary printed music, the clef and key signature are written
on each stave line and the time signature on the top line, yet the compilers adopted
their own style. In Hampton MS, Soobroy adopts a style of writing clef, key and time
signature once, on the top line of each piece, in red ink and then omits anything on
subsequent lines. Hampton is inconsistent and although uses a similar convention to
begin with (perhaps following his ‘teacher’s’ style), from Ham.8.1 he consistently
writes a treble clef on each line.735 Despite providing a clef on each line, the key
signature is frequently omitted altogether but when written is only placed on the firstline.736 Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck MSS follow suit, with the exception of using red
ink.737 I believe this is due to the copying process being hurried and points to thefunction of the books as practical repositories, intended for personal use by thecompiler, rather than indicating oral/aural transmission or writing from memory.
Campbell notes a similar practice in the manuscripts he examined, attributing it to“saving ink and paper, plus adding to the speed of transcription”.738 Campbell also
observes this employed in Chappell’s book which similarly only prints the treble clef,
key and time signature once, at the beginning of each piece. However, when observing
different editions of Chappell’s book, I noted that in Wooldridge’s later 1893 edition,

734

Open University, 'Early Music Printing Uploaded by Cantum Mensurable', Vimeo (2017)<https://vimeo.com/101737669> [accessed 25 February 2016]. Kindly drawn to my attention by Chris
Partington, Email Correspondence (10 February 2016).
735
This occurs with a few exceptions namely: Line 3 of Ham.10.3; line 4 of Ham.11.2; lines 2-5 ofHam.13.1; line 3 of Ham.15.1 and the final 4 lines of the manuscript.
736
Again Ham.11.3 provides an exception to this.
737
Three exceptions occur: Ben.130.1 and the initial three staves of Ben.59.1 and Ben.56.1 (but here hestndis using the treble clef to distinguish between the 1 and 2 parts).
738
Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 372.

181

clefs are printed on each line, perhaps indicating that by this time, there was more
conformity and standardisation in print.739
Where does this non-conformity leave the argument regarding copying? I believe theidiosyncratic drawing of stems, clef and signatures comes down to personal
preference, or ease or speed of transcription, being deliberate deviations from theprinted versions, rather than transcription errors or indicating that no printed source
was present.
Survey Evidence
To validate the results of my visual examination, I employed further methods namely;
a stylistic survey of current musicians, a survey of wider literature and survey ofprinted music which resulted in an important discovery which conclusively supported
my results. The stylistic survey of current musicians was conducted to observe thedifference in transcription stylistics of music when writing a tune from memory
compared to copying a melody from a printed copy. Survey participants were required
to have some level of musical literacy in order to participate,740 and were asked tocomplete two tasks. They were presented with three printed sheets of paper.741 The
first sheet contained instructions, clearly informing the candidate that it was not a testof knowledge, transcription skill, nor a test which had a right or wrong answer. 742
Importantly I requested that the candidate made no amendments to their first task
when they had completed the second task. In the majority of cases I was present toensure this occurred. The second sheet, task 1 consisted of manuscript paper on which
the participant was required to write the melody of 'God Save The Queen', frommemory, as far as they were able.743 When this task was complete, the participant was
instructed to turn to the third sheet (task 2), which consisted of a printed version of739

Brussel’s edition is a reprint of Wooldridge’s 1893 edition, and Dover’s is Chappell’s original edition,st
1 published in 1859: Chappell, Old English Popular Music; Chappell, The Ballad Literature and PopularMusic of the Olden Time.
740
I aimed to find non-professional but musically literate musicians who most closely represent themanuscript compilers with regards to musical ability (i.e. amateurs).
741
An example of the survey and results is shown in Appendix D.
742This was in order to comply with the ethics approval: University of Sheffield Ethics Approval No.
013359.
743
This melody was chosen as it is generally well known and provides enough rhythmic and melodic
variation to make the analysis worthwhile (i.e. more complex than the melody of a simple nursery
rhyme).

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‘God Save The Queen’, including dynamic markings, articulation and so on, which they
were then requested to copy.
Overall, the results revealed that the first transcription, carried out from memory, wasless accurate and written in a short-hand manner (of varying degrees, largely
dependent on musical ability and a natural ‘inner ear’). The transcriptions varied in
key, pitch and in some cases clef. Very few participants added any form of stylistic ormusical additions and frequently the tune was incomplete. The second transcription,
copying the given music, very clearly demonstrated that regardless of the participant’s
individual level of musical literacy, incredibly accurate facsimiles of the printed copy
were transcribed. Not only were these second transcriptions more melodically andrhythmically accurate but they also included the stylistic and musical annotations
copied from the original. This contemporary survey provides strong comparative
evidence to support my argument that the compilers were copying the majority of thetunes from printed, published music (or possibly other manuscript copies), rather thanwriting down orally/aurally transmitted tunes or tunes from memory.
Wider LiteratureThis pivotal point regarding transmission and its dependence on textual sources as
demonstrated in the manuscripts is crucial to the thesis. Looking at the evidence inwider literature I found that similar conclusions were drawn by others. Referring backto Hardy’s preface at the start of the thesis, his direct inference to the transmission
method further corroborates my argument, “their music in those days was all in theirown manuscript, copied in the evenings after work”.744 Similarly, Gammon’s
pioneering work on manuscripts in Sussex recognised that notated, published music is
far more important with regards to transmission, than previously thought. In
identifying the manuscripts’ lack of dependence on orality/aurality as a means oftransmission, he concluded that, “in most cases it seems clear that the musicianscopied the tunes either from printed sources, most likely compilations of country
dance published in London, or from other musicians’ manuscripts, which ultimately
seem to derive from printed sources”.745

744
745

Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, p. xxiv.
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 69.

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This theory was quite ground-breaking as previously orality/aurality was generally
considered as the main means of dissemination in folk music, and moreover, one of its
major defining factors. Indeed, even today orality/aurality can still be seen as afundamental element in defining folk music characteristics, discussed in Chapter 1.
Scholars have begun to agree with Gammon’s findings and argue that written sources
are being seen to play a far more crucial and much earlier role in the transmission offolk music than is acknowledged. Campbell found this to be true in the manuscripts hescrutinised, claiming “the foundations… may be traced back to the many hundreds ofpublications that saw light between 1650 and 1850”,746 and: “It is more likely,
however, that Vickers obtained the volume’s contents from printed sources…”.747
Pendlebury concludes that the manuscript tunes “hav[e] been copied from common
written sources, and I propose these were published tune-books”.748 Yates also
identifies the unstable notion of purely oral/aural transmission, recognising theimportance of interaction between text and orality/aurality.749
The song field is ahead of the tune field in this regard. Roud’s position on the lack ofreliance on orality/aurality as the sole means of transmission was explored in Chapter
1, and in 2004 Atkinson questioned to what extent folk song had genuinely beentransmitted orally/aurally. He argued that during the entire period from which folksong is known, England was a “text-based society”, and that “…vast numbers of songs,
including classic ballads and items from the standard folk-song repertoire, wereprinted and re-printed from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries and distributed
throughout England…as broadsides and/or in garlands of songsters”.750 He states that
95% of English folk song repertoire was, at some point distributed in “cheap printed
form”.751 This is an astonishingly large number and must have had an impact on the
distribution of text and tune.

746

Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 130.
747
Ibid. p. 149.
748
Pendlebury, 'Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes: A History of “Traditional” Dance Tunes of Britain and Ireland',p. 64.
749
Yates, 'Excavating Notes: The Archaeology of Canon Formation in Manx Music', p. 60.
750
Atkinson, 'Folk Songs in Print: Text and Tradition', p. 456.
751
Ibid. p. 457.

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Middleton notes that “the seemingly most archaic “folk song,” [which] will generally
turn out to have among its ancestry connections with the print world of the towns”.752
Lloyd suggests that:
We see that in thousands, indeed millions, of instances the words of folk songs
reached their singers by way of print. And not only the words. The existence ofmanuscript tune books shows that the melodies too had a certain written
currency from quite early days, especially among tune-swapping fiddlers.753
Likewise, Russell believes that:
manuscript and printed copies of songs and tunes have continued to underpin
oral tradition to this day…among Northumbrian pipers there has been a long
tradition of musical literacy in which tunes have been passed on or exchanged
in manuscript or printed form….754
The popular music field appears to struggle less than the folk music field with the needto assert oral/aural transmission as part of its identity, and suggests copying was
normal, or at least more accepted. Russell states that before the mid-century,“working men and women in choral and instrumental societies were forced to buy asingle published copy and then laboriously (but lovingly) copy out the necessary
duplicate parts”.755 Discussing choral societies, he takes a quotation from Curwen, aweaver from Huddersfield who reminisces that:
When any new pieces were required people subscribed and bought one copy.
The blank music paper was purchased at three half pence a sheet, often
fetched from places four and five miles away. The different parts were copied
out. It was no uncommon thing for a person to sit up all night copying. When
written, each part would be bound in brown paper and most carefully guarded
and used as long as the paper would hang together.756
At the socially ‘higher’ end of the popular music spectrum, the middle and upper-classbourgeoisie, consumers of the Drawing-room genre would “build a collection of
printed ballads suited to one’s individual taste and technique and have them privately
stitched together and leather bound”.757 The manuscript compilers appear to fall
between the two, and like the mid-upper-class Drawing-room genre, compile their
752

Middleton, Voicing the Popular : On the Subjects of Popular Music, p. 22.
Lloyd, Folk Song in England, p. 31.
754
Banfield and Russell, 'England (I)'.
755
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 173.
756
Ibid. p. 192.
757
Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 58.
753

185

own selection of tunes, often using a very similar repertoire to the piano culture andyet copy them and sometimes self-bind them (seen in Hampton MS), like the workingclass choral society members.
The Discovery of ‘Direct’ Sources
With the evidence beginning to show that copying was the chief method of inward
transmission, it was significant to find further, strong evidence which backed this up. In
approximately 25% of the tunes, potential ‘parent’ or direct sources were discoveredfrom which the compilers were copying.758
It is important to make the distinction between identifying a named direct source as
opposed to merely a duplication of the same tune. Whereas some printed tunes sharethe same name, structure, melodic shape and basic rhythm of their manuscript
counterparts, there can be deviations in varying degrees, between copies (both inmanuscript and printed books). There is no Urtext edition sought by the performers ofthese genres. Even if a ‘true’ original existed in the sense that it was written, arranged
and copyrighted by a composer and publisher, the means of transmission, coupledwith copyright issues and mass publications of similar items, results in variation and alack of adherence to the original.
However, a direct source demonstrates a strict observance to, and copying of, smaller
details resulting in stylistic mirroring such as: identical melodic and rhythmic shape;
imitated beaming; addition of phrasing or slurring etc., which exists on what could becalled the parent copy or direct source. For example, Figure 72 shows Ham.6.3 – ‘The
Triumph’, and two printed versions of ‘The Triumph’: one is an arrangement by
Westrop,759 and one is from the publisher Boosey.760 Despite being similar, it becomes
clear that Hampton’s and Westrop’s are more closely related than Boosey’s; to theextent where I would call Westrop’s a direct source.

758

My time at BL was limited by financial and logistical restraints and I strongly believe that more
research in the BL archives would reveal many more direct sources.
759
Westrop, 120 Country Dances, p. 2.
760
Boosey, Boosey's Hundred Reels, Country & Other Dances. For the Violin, p. 2.

186

Figure 72 : ’The Triumph’ shown in Hampton MS (Ham.6.3), Westrop’s 120 Country Dances and Boosey’s 100
Reels etc.

In some cases, a strong stylistic, melodic and rhythmic resemblance (such as thebeaming of notes, phrasing, dynamic markings, identical rhythmic or melodic detailetc.), could be perceived between manuscript and printed version, but not enough toqualify as an exact direct source (for example differences in key, or slight arrangement
or melodic alterations). In these cases, a ‘publisher’ source was proposed. This
indicated that I had likely found a printed copy by the same arranger or publisher, yet
the arrangement might be for a different instrument. Definitive decisions regarding
this were hard to make, indicated in Appendix B, although I felt that if a relationshipappeared to exist then the connection between the tune, compiler and publisher was
worth noting. Til.35.1 (Figure 73),761 illustrates a potential publisher source. Here,
melodic, rhythmic and stylistic features on the printed source indicate more than amere variation of the same tune, yet not enough similarities exist to deem it a directsource.
761

Duval, 'The Lancers' Quadrilles', Robert Cock's & Co. (1857) <https://archive.org> [accessed 10 April
2018].

187

Figure 73 : Example of a ‘Publisher Source’. Photo: R Dellow. Sources: Til.35.1 and https://archive.org.

Justifying Source ProvenanceAppendix B shows that I identified a potential direct or publisher source for 43% of thetunes.762 The discovery of a direct source revealed not only that the tunes were
copied, but that the compilers were copying from contemporary printed sources. I felt
confident to class some tunes as being copied from contemporary sources, for which
neither a direct nor publisher source could be found. This is due to the same item
appearing extensively within other contemporary printed music collections at thattime, and which demonstrate the traits of being copied rather than written frommemory.
In Hampton MS, I was able to detect four tune books which I am confident were directsources consulted by Hampton during the compilation of the manuscript. They
comprise 23% of the manuscripts’ tunes, namely Hopwood & Crew’s Selection of
762

This number includes those which have been classed as ‘yes’ and ‘maybe’ from the direct andpublisher source columns in Appendix B.

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Quadrilles Bk 4,763 Hopwood & Crew 100 Country Dances for the Violin,764 Westrop's
120 Country Dances,765 and Kerr’s Merry Melodies Bk 1,766 along with several otherpotential direct sources.767 A strong inclination towards publishers Charles Sheard, MB
and Hopwood and Crew, amongst others was identified. Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript
revealed fewer definitive direct sources, although I believe he copied some tunes fromeither Westrop's 150 Melodies,768 or Montgomery's 120 Dances for Violin.769 Westropand Montgomery were also promising direct influences for Bennett, and although only
one definitive direct source was found (Ben.92.1), he appears to have been strongly
influenced by works published by Chappell and Charles Sheard (including MB).
Further Observations on Direct Sources
In some cases, the presence of a similar stylistic notation of a tune in anothermanuscript can consolidate the decision that the tune was copied. An example within
the sacred music is shown in Chapter 6 where the tune ‘Queensborough’ exists in both
Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck MSS, and is strongly indicative of having been copiedfrom the same source.
In Bennett MS a close correlation can be seen between Ben.35.1 and a tune in theslightly earlier Winter MS, dated both 1848 and 1850,770 Figure 74. ‘Speed the Plough’appears several times in Winter MS and one version is very similar to Bennett’s. Thereis exact rhythmic and melodic reproduction between the versions, the chief difference
only being the key. Winter’s version is written in A major, and Bennett’s, G major,
suggesting a similar source but arranged for different instruments.

763

Coote, Hopwood & Crew's Selection of Quadrilles, Waltzes, Polkas &C. Edited and Expressly Arranged
for the Violin Book 4.
764
Jones, Hopwood & Crew's 100 Country Dances for the Violin, Arranged by S. Jones.London, [1875]
Music Collections E.269.(3.).
765Westrop, 120 Country Dances.
766
Kerr, Kerr's First Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin.
767
See Appendix B.
768
Westrop, One Hundred and Fifty Melodies for the Violin. Adapted Also for the Flute, or Any Treble
Instrument.
769
Montgomery, 120 Dances for the Flute, (London: Musical Bouquet J Allen, No date).
770
Winter, William Winter Music Manuscript Book.

189

Figure 74 : ‘Speed the Plough’, from Ben.35.1 and Winter MS. Photo: G Carter / R Dellow. Source: Huronia
Museum / Halsway Manor Library, copyright Halsway Manor Society Ltd 2001.

Winter’s tune has the word ‘Folse’ written above. Reference to a published tune bookby this name could not be found. However, a census search revealed that a man
named William Folse was living twenty-six miles away from Winter in 1841 in
Collumpton.771 Despite having moved to Leicestershire by 1851,772 his child was born in
Coombe St Nicholas, Somerset c1846,773 nineteen miles from West Bagborough. This
could indicate that Winter knew Folse and wrote down his version of the tune before
he moved away. It is feasible that Folse had found his version of the tune in a
published tune book which was the same source from which Bennett either directly or
indirectly copied. Interestingly this also serves as an example regarding theinconsistency of stems. Despite the potential of both examples originating from thesame source, Bennett and Winter favour different stem stylistics.

771

Folse and Forse appear to be interchangeable in the census records. 'William Forse', 1841 England
Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 225; Book: 4; Civil Parish: Cullompton; County: Devon; Enumeration
District: 2; Folio: 9; Page: 12; Line: 8; GSU roll: 241313), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 25 April 2017].
772'William Folse', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 2090; Folio: 429; Page: 37; GSU
roll: 87718), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 25 April 2017].
773'William Forse', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 2275; Folio: 51; Page: 32; GSU roll:542947), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 25 April 2017].

190

Results
My research into direct inward transmission indicates that 94% of the items arecopied, with only 4% indicating direct oral/aural transmission, leaving 2% for which I
did not feel confident definitively classing. Campbell concurs that the direct inward
transmission is via copying, yet cites pre-1850 printed dance tune collections as apotential source.774 Unlike Campbell, I believe approximately 98% of the copied tunes
were copied from contemporary sources aimed at amateurs. Therefore, despite
displaying an eclectic mix of genre, the compilers were actually selecting from ageographically and chronologically narrow range of contemporary sources, specific tomonophonic amateur instrumentalists. Even the art music and older historic tunes
appear to have been sourced, in a direct sense from contemporary printed music. The
results are shown in Figure 75.775
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

Bennett
Till
HamptonCopiedOral/Memory
Contemp.

UnsureCopied Other

Figure 75 : Graph to show distribution of inward transmission.

Sources
The following section considers the sources from which the compilers were drawing
the tunes.
‘Cheap Works’
The types of sources used by the compilers were budget publications specific toamateur monophonic instrumentalists and were frequently referred to as ‘cheap’
works. They were published chiefly in London and varied in price between one shilling774

See above.
The results consist of four categories: ‘Copied Contemp.’, refers to tunes which I have classed as
being copied from contemporary printed (or possibly manuscript) sources; ‘Copied Other’, refers totunes I considered copied, but from unknown sources; ‘Oral/Memory’, denotes tunes written ‘by ear’,from memory or while someone is singing or playing the melody; the final category ‘Unsure’, is for thosetunes where evidence was unambiguous as to whether the tune was copied.
775

191

and eighteen pence. They covered all popular genres, reflected in the heterogeneousassortment found in the manuscripts. Extracts and arrangements from opera, minstrel
songs, popular song, modern dances, jigs, reels and hornpipes etc. were included.
Chapters 1 and 3 noted the crossover in repertoire with the Drawing-room genre, andwith the brass band movement, however the sources used by the compilers were
specifically published and aimed at individual, amateur, monophonic instrumentalists.
Some research has been carried out on the vocal and piano market, and that of thebrass band repertoire,776 but no academic studies appear to have focussed on thisprinted monophonic instrumental music and no catalogues exist. Like the manuscripts,
this genre of popular printed music seems to have been overlooked. This could be dueto their ambiguity of definition as discussed in reference to the manuscripts, 777 or
perhaps as a result of their affordability discussed below.
Within the manuscripts, three key publishers have so far emerged as influential
namely, Hopwood & Crew, Chappell and Charles Sheard (MB).778 My research suggeststhat Hopwood & Crew were prominent in Hampton MS and possibly Till/Clutterbuck
MS, although their impact is not seen in Bennett MS, unsurprising given their business
commenced in 1860, the same year as Bennett MS.779 Of potential importance inBennett MS is the publisher Chappell, the “longest-established music publishers in
London”,780 operating from 1811 and still operating under the name Warner Chappell
following a takeover in 1987.781 In addition to their publishing business they promoted
concerts,782 and were respected piano manufacturers.

776

Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour; Scott, Sounds of theMetropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna;
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History; Herbert, 'The Repertory of a Victorian
Provincial Brass Band.'; Slatter, 'Welcome to the Musical Bouquet'; Taylor, English Brass Bands and Their
Music, 1860-1930.
777
This is discussed in Chapter 1.
778
Work is ongoing in an attempt to identify more direct sources, especially in Till/Clutterbuck andBennett, which subsequently might widen the number of influential publishers.
779
Parkinson, Victorian Music Publishers : An Annotated List, p. 132.
780
Ibid. p. 49.
781
W.H. Husk and others, 'Chappell', Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, (2017),<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com> [accessed 22 November 2016].
782
See Chapter 3.

192

The extent of Chappell’s cheap publications specifically aimed at monophonicinstrumentalists was large, seen in Figure 76 below.783 Publications covered a wide
range of genres and instruments under the title of Chappell’s Cheap Works, whichwere priced at eighteen pence (1s 6d).

Figure 76 : ‘Chappell's Cheap Works’, priced at 18d. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (f.161).

The influence of Hopwood & Crew can be seen in Hampton MS. Founded in 1860 andspecialising in popular dance music,784 they priced their instrumental collections evencheaper than Chappell’s Cheap Works, at one shilling (Figure 77),785 and show a similar
range of genres including general ‘Selections’ and collections of ‘Country Dances’,‘Popular Songs Of The Day’, ‘Quadrilles, Waltzes, Galops, Polkas, etc.’,786 and from theevidence found in BL, were frequently arranged for violin, flute and cornet.

783

I felt it was important to show a photograph of an actual example of one of the sources, however forease of reading and clarity in order to understand the extent of genres and versions available, I havetranscribed the various different genres advertised on this one photograph in Appendix E.
784
Parkinson, Victorian Music Publishers : An Annotated List, p. 132.
785
Jones, Hopwood & Crew's 100 Country Dances for the Violin, Arranged by S. Jones.London, [1875]
Music Collections E.269.(3.).
786
The list is an example of various different genres published by ‘Hopwood & Crew’, viewed at BL.

193

Figure 77 : ‘Hopwood & Crew's 100 Country Dances for the Violin’, Priced at 1s. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL(e.269.(3)).

Meanwhile, the largest influence on the compilers is by Charles Sheard who, althoughhugely influential with his MB series, also published separately. Parkinson lists Charles
Sheard operating from 1851 until 1920.787 MB was in existence prior to this date (from1845), as the names and addresses of owners, taken from the printed music sheets
show.788 Despite the enormity of their influence on popular music in the mid-latenineteenth century, demonstrated in the manuscripts and the proliferation of their
publications, neither Charles Sheard nor his MB series warrant a mention in Grove
Music Online. Of the little research into Sheard, 789 most focuses on the MB series
whose chief market was in publishing individual music sheets, catering predominantly
for the Drawing-room genre.
Initially MB was a weekly publication which was edited and bound into a volume every
six months and

787

Parkinson, Victorian Music Publishers : An Annotated List, p. 248. Following Charles senior’s death in1873 the company was run by Charles’ son Charles Henry and following his death in 1913, thought to be
run by Charles senior’s second wife Clara Elizabeth until the company was sold. Mervyn Slatter,'Foreword', Musical Bouquet (2017) <http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk/foreword> [accessed 25 April2017].
788
Mervyn Slatter, 'Addresses', Musical Bouquet (2017) <http://www.musicalbouquet.co.uk/addresses>[accessed 25 April 2017].
789
I have only been able to uncover a mention in Russell and the work done by Slatter which includes anintroductory essay by Peter Gammond. Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History,
p. 174; Slatter, 'Welcome to the Musical Bouquet'; Gammond, 'Peter Gammond's Essay'.

194

though one amongst a plethora of publishing houses in London and theprovinces in the 1800’s, the Musical Bouquet can hold its head high in that itprovided “cheap and sterling” music for the masses over most of Queen
Victoria’s reign, Edward VII's and into the first 7 years of George the Vth.790
MB and Sheard were also prolific publishers of tune collections for the monophonicinstrumentalist market, covering numerous genres and instruments, of the samegenres and instrumental types as Chappell and Hopwood & Crew. The following
figure,791 shows MB’s instrumental collections retailing for one shilling.

Figure 78 : Sheard’s ‘Musical Bouquet’ Publication, selling for one shilling. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (f.106. (1)).

During the BL archival visit, I also unearthed an MB publication called Musical Gem(Figure 79),792 which I thought may be more of an influence within the manuscripts
than it transpired to be. Priced at a more affordable three pence,793 these tiny
instrumental tune books,794 were issued fortnightly through the 1860s. Despite notproviding a direct source for any of the manuscript contents, a distinct parallel inrepertoire can be seen. Furthermore, these books are evidently rare, and their re-790

Slatter, 'Foreword'. The work of Mervyn Slatter in re-constructing MB’s catalogue and research into
the entire series has been invaluable in this thesis.
791
W. H. Montgomery, One Hundred Sacred Melodies, Arranged for the Violin, Flute, Etc. , (London: C.
Sheard Musical Bouquet, c1876).
792
Musical Gem, The Musical Gem, a Companion to the Musical Bouquet, (London: Musical Bouquet J
Allen, 1858-60).
793
Chapter 6 details that sellers often sold the music at half or a third of the stated price, suggesting that
the Musical Gem may have retailed for as low as one pence.
794
The books measure 17cm x 12cm.

195

discovery has been described as “of great interest” by MB expert, Slatter.795 It isinteresting to consider whether their affordability directly reflects their lack ofinfluence on the manuscripts, perhaps signifying that, being affordable, the compiler
demographic purchased these books and hence there was no requirement totranscribe the tunes (possibly causing the decline of a manuscript culture).
Subsequently the lack of survival of print discussed below has cast these ‘gems’ andtheir content into obscurity. This highlights the importance of the manuscripts assurviving repositories of a musical and cultural history, a point to which I shall return todiscuss in more depth.

Figure 79 : The ‘Musical Gem’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (b.94).

The Legality of Copying Music
Ascertaining that print was the key direct inward transmission method raises thequestion of the legality of the practice. Before considering this in relation to themanuscripts, it is worth setting the groundwork by examining this from a wider
perspective. Piracy was a big problem faced by mid-late-nineteenth-century music
publishers. Coover discloses the enormity of the threat from cheaper American printed
copies but this aside, evidence on a smaller scale exists in the manuscripts of imitationand perhaps deliberate confusion in titles, between rival firms.

795

Mervyn Slatter, Email Correspondence (30 March 2017); Mervyn Slatter, 'Welcome to the MusicalBouquet : Latest News', Musical Bouquet (2017) [accessed 25 April 2017].

196

For example, both Montgomery and D’Albert composed/arranged a set of quadrilles
called ‘Bonnie Dundee Quadrille’. Till/Clutterbuck, unusually, provides a composer’s
name, attributing his version, Til.25.1-Til.29.1 to D’Albert. Both versions are‘constructed’ of traditional Scottish tunes (see Chapter 3), yet they comprise adifferent selection of tunes. This could have caused confusion for Till/Clutterbuck, wholater in the manuscript includes consecutive transcriptions of two of the tunes from
Montgomery’s version of the quadrille (Til.34.1 and Til.34.2), perhaps out of necessity
if his musical colleagues played (or his audience prefer), Montgomery’s version.
Additionally, Till/Clutterbuck transcribes ‘Scotch Polka’ (Til.24.1) which is found to be
written by D’Albert (published by Chappell), which was dated in BL as 1865.796 A
version in MB catalogue, dated 1857 is attributed to Montgomery.797 Not only do thedates differ but likely the versions too as it transpires that an exclusivity deal existed
between D’Albert and Chappell (Figure 80).798

Figure 80 : Evidence of the exclusivity deal between D'Albert and Chappell. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (e.251.a).

Similarly, Bennett transcribes D’Albert’s ‘Off To Charlestown Quadrilles’,799 (the sametune set is called ‘Charlestown Quadrilles’ in other versions), yet a version exists inMB’s catalogue, again written by Montgomery, dated 1860.800 Clarification in BL
confirms Montgomery’s version differs from D’Alberts. A comparable situation occurs
in Ben.25.1, ‘England Quadrilles’, this time between similarly named quadrille sets by
796

British Library Catalogue, 'The Scotch Polka. [P.F.] Charles Louis Napoléon D' Albert', British Library(No date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 25 April 2017].
797
British Library Catalogue, 'The Scotch Polka W H Montgomery', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 25 April 2017].
798
Nava, Chappell's 100 Dances, Arranged for the Cornet-à-Pistons, Etc. .
799
Ben.30.1 and found in printed version: ibid.
800
Mervyn Slatter, 'The Catalogue - 2055d the Charlestown Quadrilles Montgomery,W.H', MusicalBouquet (2017) <www.musicalbouquet.co.uk> [accessed 25 April 2017].

197

D’Albert and Jullien which are again constructed with different tunes. Further attempts
at potentially deliberate confusion were seen in Til.19.1, found to be composed by A.
P. Juliano,801 presumably hoping to profit from the similarity in name to the highlycelebrated composer, arranger and conductor, Jullien.
The use of art music, although discussed in Chapter 3 is relevant here too. Both
Montgomery and Chappell’s books list several tunes with connections to art music, or
opera, and the manuscripts demonstrate similar influences.802 Although arranged into
their respective genres, such as quadrilles or waltzes etc., they still bear a close
resemblance to the original opera yet are attributed to the arranger not the originalcomposer (Figure 81).803

Figure 81 : ‘The Rigoletto Waltz’. Photos: R Dellow. Source: BL (e.73.a) and Ham.9.3.

Montgomery is named as composer perhaps as the melody was so well known thatciting Verdi as the composer was superfluous. Interestingly, the tune also occurs in
Boosey’s 100 Dances for the Violin and is attributed this time to Henri Laurent,804 again
with no reference to Verdi. The similarity between Montgomery and Laurent’s versions
is striking and one wonders which publisher, if either, had an arrangement with Verdi
801

Boosey, One Hundred Dances for the Violin.
Ham.9.4, ‘Lucrezia Borgia Valse’, Ham.9.3, ‘Rigoletto Valse’, for example.
803
Montgomery, 120 Dances for the Flute.
804
Boosey, One Hundred Dances for the Violin.
802

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to use his melody. Discussion of copyright in 1881 clearly states the illegality of simply‘borrowing’ a melody: “recognizable paraphrasing of an air or melody forming part ofan opera [is] an infringement of the copyright as a whole”.805
Chapter 3 witnessed a similar ‘borrowing’ with regards to D’Albert, Jullien andMontgomery’s construction of quadrille sets using the historic tunes. As with the art
music above, these quadrilles are attributed to specific composers yet are constructedfrom pre-existing tunes.806 For example, Till/Clutterbuck’s ‘Royal Irish Quadrilles’
comprise historic, pre-existing tunes yet the front page of a published copy credits
Jullien as the composer with further notes that “These Quadrilles were composed
expressly for the Dublin Promenade Concerts…”.807
Another example of rival publishers ‘borrowing’ from each other can be found in the
publication of anonymous dance tunes.808 There are powerful similarities between
Hampton’s hornpipe transcriptions of ‘Millicen(t)’s’ (Ham.15.2), ‘Bristol’ (Ham.15.1)(Figure 82), ‘The Navvie’ (Ham.16.1), and ‘The Harvest Home’ (Ham.9.1), and thosefound in both Kerr’s Merry Melodies,809 (Figure 83), and Chappell’s 100 Hornpipes,
Strathspeys etc.,810 (Figure 84). Furthermore, both ‘Bristol’ and ‘Millicent’s’ appear on
the same page in all three. Although I believe Kerr is the most likely direct source for
Hampton (mainly due to the imitation of the mis-spelling of ‘Millicen’s’), this strongly
suggests copying between Kerr and Chappell. As Kerr’s dates slightly later thanChappell’s publication I would propose that Kerr were copying Chappell.811

805

James Coover, Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England, (London & New York:
Mansell Publishing Limited 1985), p. 10.
806
For example, Til.25.1-29.1, ‘Bonnie Dundee’, Til.14.1-17.1, ‘Royal Irish’, Ben.25.1-29, ‘England
Quadrilles’.
807
Louis Antoine Jullien, 'Royal Irish Quadrilles', Historic Sheet Music Collection, 558 (1844),<http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/sheetmusic/558> [accessed 22 April 2017]. See also image in
Chapter 3.
808
Anonymous in the sense that the publishers did not attribute composers to the tunes.
809
Kerr, Kerr's First Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin, p. 44.
810
Chappell, Chappell's 100 Hornpipes, Strathspey's, Reels, Jigs and Country Dances for the Violin,(London: Chappell & Co.).
811
The start of Kerr’s publications date from mid-1870s and Chappell’s publication dates from early
1870s (1873).

199

Figure 82 : ‘Bristol Hornpipe’ and ‘Millicen’s Favorite [sic] Hornpipe’, Ham.15.1 and Ham.15.2

812.

Figure 83 : ‘Millicen’s Favourite’ and ‘Bristol Hornpipe’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Kerr's Merry Melodies Book 1.

Figure 84 : ‘Millicent’s Favourite’ and ‘Bristol’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Chappell’s 100 Hornpipes, BL (251.a).

812

See Appendix A for a larger version of Hampton’s tunes.

200

The issue of publishers copying both melody and arrangement does not go unnoticed
at the time. However, it is not until 1890 that as part of Lord Monkswell’s bill to amend
the law of copyright that provisions are made for copyright to exist “on anonymous
works, for thirty years after publication”.813 These examples of publishers copying eachother’s arrangements of anonymous tunes leads on to the overall issue of ownershipand copyright of tunes with an unknown composer, which still exists to some extent
today.814
Of similar interest is the generic titling of such tunes in both the manuscripts and thesources. There are several incidences of individual tunes within books named simply as‘hornpipe’, a convention also seen in other dance genres such as waltz (or valse),
schottische, quadrille and galop. Many of these generically titled tunes cansubsequently be traced as well-known pre-existing tunes and it is possible their nonspecific title is an attempt at evading copyright.
In Bennett MS some of the now more well-known hornpipes are simply called by thegeneric title ‘hornpipe’.815 In Till/Clutterbuck MS the opening seven tunes comprise abatch of generally known and identifiable hornpipes, but with no titles given. 816 The
tunes bear characteristics of being copied and thus suggest they were acquired from asource which omitted specific names,817 which in turn might be attributed to avoiding
copyright.
In addition to omitting, or using generic titles, there is evidence of name changing.
Figure 85 shows the title of a traditional Scottish tune, ‘Blue Bells of Scotland’ changed
to ‘Scotch Melody’ in Ham.2.2. I suspect this is not a change initiated by Hampton (orSoobroy), rather by the arranger or publisher of his source, perhaps to navigate acopyright issue, discussed below. An identical alteration can be seen in Reinacle’s The

813

Coover, Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England, p. 44.
fRoots Forum, 'Cecil Sharp : A ‘Knobhead ?’', Folk Roots (2008)<http://www.froots.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3450&postdays=0&posto> [accessed 3 February2013].
815
For example, see Ben.110.2 and Ben.111.2.
816
For example, see Til.2.1 – Til.8.1.
817
Such an example was viewed in BL which whilst they are not Till/Clutterbuck or Bennett’s source,
they are evidence that generic naming existed in the sources. Douglas McKenzie, Boosey's Instrumental
Library, No. 102 One Hundred Modern Hornpipes, Jigs, Breakdowns, Sand-Dances, Comic Tunes &C.,
(London: Boosey & Co.).
814

201

Violinist's Portfolio,818 (also Figure 85), suggesting this book as Hampton or Soobroy’s
source, indicating the switch at a higher level. Despite the intriguingly similar namechange, I have not listed this as a definitive direct source however as the phrase
endings between the two versions differ. That said, although doubtful, this could be
additional evidence of the same fact, this time indicating changes by Soobroy, in orderto navigate copyright issues at manuscript level in order to hide plagiarised sources.

Figure 85: Ham.2.2 and ‘Scotch Melody’ from Reinacle's Violinist's Portfolio. Photos: R Dellow. Sources: Hampton
MS and BL (h.217).

Some differences in tune name, of which there are many in the older anonymous
repertoire, might simply be caused by the tunes’ previous transmission not being
consistently rooted in a text-based environment. This would result in name changes
occurring in a more natural, un-conscious manner. Many examples of tunes being
known by different (indeed, several), names throughout the manuscripts were noted.
Serving as a representative example is Ham.14.2, ‘The Clown’s Hornpipe’ (which wastraced to be the same as ‘New Clog Hornpipe’),819 which in turn was traced to print,820
in a book entitled Blackman - A Selection of the most favorite Hornpipes for the Violin

818

A. R. Reinacle, The Violinist's Portfolio, (London: D'Almaine & Co.).
Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, p. 61.
820
Via a transcription: Peter Dunk, 'New Clog Hornpipe', abcnotation<http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=www.cpartington.plus.com/links/Blackmans-H%27pipes/0031>[accessed January 2016].
819

202

ca1810-22,821 shown in Figure 86. This is unlikely to have been Hampton’s source as
the tune name differs, yet curiously the similarity between the two versions is strong.

Figure 86 : Ham.14.2 and 'New Clog Hornpipe' from Blackman. Sources: Hampton MS andhttp://folkopedia.efdss.org.

With the upsurge of production and demand of musical print throughout the laternineteenth-century came the need to review copyright laws which, in their current
state were insubstantial. Coover studies the articles in the trade press which led to the1906 copyright act,822 and several key weak areas emerge. In summary, these are,piracy from cheaper, illegal copies and copies from America, piracy between
themselves, the ownership of performing rights (including the charging of performers
to sing specific songs at charitable and amateur penny concerts), and manuscript
copying of tunes.
Of key importance here is the legality of the compilers’ practice. It transpires that
despite copying being a common practice, with advertisements showing that for those
prepared to pay one pence per page, professional music copying services were821

W. Blackman, A Selection of the Most Favourite Hornpipes for the Violin, (London: W. Blackman).
Image taken from Folkopedia, 'Blackman's Hornpipes Pdf', Folkopedia (No date)<http://folkopedia.efdss.org/images/7/7f/Blackman%27s_Hornpipes.PDF> [accessed 20 September
2017].
822
Coover, Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England.

203available,823 it was in fact illegal. Coover’s research covers a period slightly beyond thatof the manuscripts. However, the general attitude towards copying is one of confusion,suggesting that the same confusion would have applied earlier.
In December 1882 The Musical Publishers’ Association (MPA) asked The MusicalOpinion and Music Trade Review (MO&MTR), to print a warning to its readers that“any copying of a copyrighted song, even by hand, is an infringement”,824 and thesecretary notes that journal advertisements, “circulating primarily among ladies” offer
copying as a service. There is some dispute in the press about the legality and in 1883
the Family Herald states that “it is certainly not illegal to copy printed music”.825
Five years later the confusion is still rife, even amongst the members of the MPA, withthe editor noting:some confusion in the minds of more than one member of the Music
Publishers’ Association about the law concerning MS. Copies of copyrighted
music. Though it is undoubtedly illegal to copy for purposes of sale, he says,'there is no law which prevents anybody from copying in MS. any music for his
own private use. Any opinion to the contrary is manifestly absurd...Music is socheap that it does not pay to copy it', and as engraved music is so much easierto read than MS., 'both young men and maidens' should prefer it.826
However, two months later MPA issue another public warning against copying addingthat “transcription of copyright songs into other keys is unlawful copying, subject toheavy penalties”.827
It is hard to believe that the actions of the amateur musicians were having a massive
effect on the profits of the publishing companies by copying out tunes. It appears that,as implied above, one of the main ‘culprits’ were the pianists from the middle-class
Drawing-room genre. The demographic of the manuscript compilers does not evenregister as a menace here when the chief perpetrators of the practice are described by
the Musical Times:

823

An advert in the Belfast Telegraph advertises manuscript copies for nine pence each: Belfast Evening
Telegraph, 'Music', Belfast Evening Telegraph, 31 January 1883,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
824
Coover, Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England, p. 13.
825
Ibid. p. 14.
826
Ibid. p. 33.
827
Ibid. p. 34.

204

a practice, 'which is growing every day more pronounced, of reproducing inmanuscript copyright works'. Three types of offenders are singled out: 1) the
young lady who, just having purchased a copyright song, makes a copy for her
accompanist or circulates it to her friends; 2) the parson who buys a Service oran Anthem and re-copies it until he has supplied each member of the choir; 3)
the enthusiastic organizer of local concerts. The usual excuses - ignorance ofthe law, not knowing a work is copyrighted, or feelings that 'the law is absurd' are discussed and examined as nonsensical.828
That said, the annotation ‘Not Copyright’, shown on Figure 87 implies Till/Clutterbuck
was aware of the dangers of copying:

Figure 87 : Til.21.1.

This is intriguing as in the published sources, Coote is clearly acknowledged as thecomposer of ‘Great Eastern Polka’, and Hopwood & Crew as the publisher. Hopwood &Crew were established in 1860 until 1906 and both Charles Coote senior and junior
were still alive when Till/Clutterbuck was copying the tune, so it could be assumed thatthe tune was copyright.829
A workable copyright law was not established until 1906, and during the last decadesof the nineteenth century publishers began to explicitly print ‘copyright’ on a copy toprevent coping. This was more to prevent large scale piracy and to establish
performance rights,830 but as stated in The Musical Times, January 1884, “every newcomposition can be safely presumed to be public property unless the contrary is statedupon the title page”.831 Awareness of the wisdom in doing this prior to 1884 is shown

828

Ibid. p. 42.
Alternatively, this might hint at Till/Clutterbuck’s literacy levels, as discussed in Chapter 6 (and withreference to the transmission survey), that Till/Clutterbuck perhaps copied these two words ‘blind’,unable to understand their meaning and copying by rote. Or he could be referring to the performance ofthe tune in public not being copyrighted.
830
Coover, Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England, p. 12.
831
Ibid. p. 16.
829

205

in Figure 88, which is dated according to BL from 1864 in a copy of Montgomery’s‘Charlestown Quadrilles’.832

Figure 88 : Indication of awareness of copyright. Source: BL (h.2345.2001-2100).

Till/Clutterbuck’s comments could be a clue that he was copying during this period ofmisperception and as his source did not explicitly state ‘copyright’, he felt justified indeclaring his copy as “Not Copyright”, although for what reasons is unclear.
The matter of manuscript copying does not seem to be resolved, rather the issue
dematerialises. By the turn of the century, when the publishers succumb to a
reduction in price, copies are perhaps more affordable, and no more mention ofmanuscript copying is made, suggesting it no longer caused a threat to the publishers.
Favouring Copying Over Using Purchased Print
Having established that their source material was advertised as ‘cheap’, and that theact of copying was a grey area in terms of legality, an important question remains as towhy the compilers copied rather than purchased printed music. I believe the answer ismulti-faceted. Initially, the selection process afforded by a self-made compilation fulfils
personal taste across all genre boundaries and creates adaptability in function,
resulting in a unique, individual collection which is compact and easily transportable.
Likely this format, despite the labour involved was favoured by amateur musicians for
its adaptability and economic advantages.
Secondly, just by employing the word ‘cheap’ in the title does not necessarily make themusic affordable. Although possibly comparatively cheaper, and sold below themarked price, in reality, for the lower end of the demographic, printed music remained
a luxury item, unobtainable in many cases. Evidence has been put forward that
Hampton, Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett were not affluent. Although exact income andoutgoings are undetermined, discussed in Chapter 6, copies of Chappell’s ‘Cheap

832

W. H. Montgomery, Popular Dance Music : The Charlestown Quadrilles, (London: Muiscal Bouquet).

206

Works’ even at a third of the marked price, at six pence could not have been easily
afforded.
Additional reasons to copy and compile their own tunebook above purchasing print
could perhaps be evidence of an element of pride in their musical literacy skills andaspiration too due to emulating (in a cheaper fashion), a practice employed in thehigher social culture of piano-centric Drawing-room genre discussed above.
Print Survival and Lack of Interest
Just as the medium was favoured by the compilers, it appears that it was also favoured
by their descendants, contributing to better manuscript survival than the source
material.833 The link a hand-crafted, self-selected repository created with theirdeceased relatives over and above copies of printed music is important to the survivalof (or perhaps merely a better awareness of) the manuscripts. Yet this survival does
not necessarily mean that compilers did not keep printed copies. Printed music datingfrom the same period as the manuscript was handed down to me alongside theHampton MS, suggesting both purchased print and manuscript were used.
It is not known whether lack of attention to the contemporary, more modern elementsof the amateur monophonic instrumental repertoire exists simply due to a lack ofawareness of the repertoire or culture, lack of survival of sources or from a lack ofinterest. The possibility exists that not enough time has passed for these publicationsor their melodies to reach a value of antiquity amongst performers or collectors, themusical content still viewed as unfashionable and out-dated and not yet re-generated
an interest. The same can be seen in the Drawing-room genre. Despite the individual
music sheets generating attention and surviving,834 this is largely due to a growth ininterest from art-historians caused by their lithographed covers. The musical content,
which is shared between both musical practices, generates little interest. This raises
the question whether these music sheets and the popular songs and tune collections
are analogous with the Broadside ballads of the previous centuries, yet to be

833

The lack of extant source material could be suggestive of the compilers borrowing printed copies,
discussed in Chapter 6.
834
Some single music sheets can be found for sale on websites such as The Sheetmusic Warehouse(SMW) for £75 each, see for example, Coote’s ‘The Great Eastern Polka’: The Sheetmusic Warehouse,'The Great Eastern Polka', The Sheetmusic Warehouse <http://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk>[accessed 25 April 2017].

207

rediscovered and researched. Alternatively, perhaps it is because the tunes and songs
are indeed “abominable trash”!835
The music sheets generate interest in USA and Australia, again largely due to interest
from art-historians. Both LOC,836 and The National Library of Australia,837 (NLA) have
online digital resources, which have proved useful in this study.838 Furthermore, an
American university has established an online archive of American publications ofthese printed music sheets,839 comparable to the work done by The Digital Image
Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) in the Medieval Music field.840 Thus, somelithographed music sheets survive, again perhaps due to the interest of art-historians,
and some song sheets survive, perhaps due to the interest of philologists. However,the lack of survival of instrumental music books, specifically the lower brow, budget
publications feeding the manuscripts, appears to suggest that, until now, musicologists
have not been interested in their content or the story they tell.841
Print versus Manuscript Survival
When researching these sources, a difficulty arises from the lack of extant copies.
Although BL hold many, their holdings are not complete,842 and although LOC and NLA
are helpful resources for piano music sheets, their helpfulness is limited when it comesto the instrumental copies for reasons outlined above. Research then relies onreferences in adverts and concert programs found in contemporary newspapers, which
are clearly limiting by the lack of melody. It is interesting to consider what has caused
this lack of survival, particularly when compared to the manuscript survival. I believethat part of their invisibility now may be due to two of the same reasons accounting
for their popularity: that of its relatively cheap cost and of its fashionable nature.

835

Frank Kidson, 'Folk-Song and the Popular Song', The Choir, 3. 32 (1912), 149-51 (p. 149); J Heywood,'Correspondence - Folk Songs (in Response to Mr Kidson's Article)', The Choir, 3. 27 (1912), 60.
836
Library of Congress, 'Online Catalog', Library of Congress <https://catalog.loc.gov/> [accessed 25
April 2017].
837
National Library of Australia, 'Catalogue', National Library of Australia (No date)<http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/> [accessed 25 April 2017].
838
Library of Congress, 'Online Catalog'; National Library of Australia, 'Catalogue'.
839
Music Library, '19th-Century American Sheet Music', University of North Carolina (No date)<http://www2.lib.unc.edu/dc/sheetmusic/> [accessed 25 April 2017].
840
DIAMM, 'Diamm', The Faculty of Music, St. Aldates, Oxford (No date) <https://www.diamm.ac.uk/>[accessed 25 April 2017].
841
This could be the result of both the low-mid brow content and due to the ambiguous classification ofthis genre as folk music, in which more often the chief focus is on song and not instrumental tunes.
842
See Chapter 1, part 2 where I detail the printed copies I own which are not in BL.

208

The ephemeral, transient nature of the tunes and songs, coupled with the perceived
value of the printed copy as ‘cheap’ may have resulted in musicians happily discardingout of date music for new trends, particularly if the melodic quality was dubious. If
printed music survived in a family home longer than the musician, then a similarsentiment may have been felt by a relative, as discussed above and in Chapter 2(‘Environment’). However, that the repertoire has survived in the manuscript archive,
enabling content selection to be seen, the better manuscript survival and the aspect ofcontent selection by the compiler adds to the social and historical significance of thesemanuscripts and validates their importance as primary sources. They provide an
unwritten narrative to popular culture of the time and an insight into the people
creating them, which is largely denied in a seemingly more stable but now extant
medium of print.
Using the Sources to Define an Autonomous Practice
By 1898, annual sales of sheet music were estimated at twenty- million in Britain,843
yet very little is recorded, or possibly known about the sheet music aimed at thisspecific amateur, vernacular instrumental musical practice. The publishers printed
books containing much of the same repertoire marketing it towards the players acrossa range of different monophonic instruments, namely flute, violin, cornet-a-piston andconcertina, which is directly reflected in the compiler’s manuscripts.844 Leaving aside
factors of duplicity or commerciality, this reveals a broad acceptance of similarrepertoire which on face value might appear to be a unifying factor within this musicalassemblage or culture. However, this broad repertoire stretches beyond this specificmusical practice and reaches into wider amateur musical milieu. Publications of thesame repertoire were marketed to encompass different arrangements for the
Drawing-room genre and small ensembles (fife and drum band, military band, brassband etc.). This was discussed in Chapters 1 and 3, but it is an important point toconsider from the perspective of using the sources in defining a distinct musicalpractice.

843
844

Coover, Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England, p. 68.
As seen in Figure 76.

209

The fact that all three manuscripts are for amateur monophonic instrumental
musicians,845 strengthens their inclusion in an independent archive or defined as anautonomous practice. This practice differs from that of the Drawing-room genre, orbrass bands etc. even if the repertoire shows similarity. With regards to the filtrationof art music in Chapter 3, I suggest a ‘melting pot’ of repertoire. The genres crossdifferent musical practices and therefore across social boundaries. The manuscripts’
contents share parallels with the middle-upper-class, female dominated, Drawingroom genre. Similarly, the repertoire of a military band, brass band and popularconcert programs demonstrate a cross-over. Quadrilles from the ballrooms ofaristocrats and the repertoire from the street music machines all share song and dance
melodies with the manuscripts. The music machines’ eclectic mix was seen to appeal
to specific social layers in society,846 therefore crossing boundaries but not necessarily
filtering down or up, merely demonstrating that the repertoire was essentially popular
music and it was being successfully disseminated commercially.
However, what is important here is that whilst a heterogeneous repertoire may bereflected across the breadth of musical practices, each musical practice has distinct
publications and thus the sources differ. The sources found to influence the compilers
are specifically created for this autonomous musical culture. Participants of the
middle-class, female Drawing-room genre were catered for by individual lithographed,homophonic music sheets, and the collective brass band and choral cultures had theirown distinct set of sources and publishers.847 Thus the sources examined in myresearch are key in shaping or helping define an autonomous mid-late-nineteenthcentury vernacular, monophonic, amateur, instrumental musical practice. I feel it isimportant to define the musical practice represented in the manuscripts
independently from other Victorian musical practices to ensure the story of theamateur mid-working-class musician is no longer overlooked.

845

Although some of Bennett (and possibly Till’s) suggests some use of ensemble playing see forexample: Ben.85.1 and Ben.129.1 & 129.2.I do not believe there is enough material to deem it
exclusively a military or brass band manuscript book.
846
See the quotation from ‘Mayhew’s London’ in Chapter 3, found in Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played
to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 83.p. 83.
847
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 174.

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If a scale of Victorian, amateur, musical practice is drawn, the area represented by themanuscripts would perhaps fall between the non-musically literate musicians,848 andthe Drawing-room genre, perhaps with the brass band and Choral Society members
placed next to the Drawing-room genre. Interestingly, in Roud’s discussion he appears
to leapfrog over the vernacular, domestic instrumental musical practice represented
by the manuscripts, moving from folk singers to the ‘singing bourgeoisie’, with toomuch ease and little regard for that which fell between.849 This must be in part
because he was focussing chiefly on song, not tunes. That said, it perhaps reflects amore general lack of awareness of this musical practice reliant on published music andpopular amongst lower occupational classes, which sat between the Drawing-roomgenre, “for whom it was the music publishers who made all the running”,850 andRoud’s folk singers. Chapter 2 established that the compilers were from the same
demographic as the ‘folk’, yet as this chapter and Chapter 3 have demonstrated, theirdomestic musical practice was similar in repertoire and likewise heavily dependent on
published sources, as was the Drawing-room genre. The major difference between themusical practice represented in the manuscripts and that from the Drawing-roomgenre being class and instrumentation (and specific source material). It would beinteresting to see where Roud would place these musicians in his concentric circles of‘folkiness’!851

Survival, Revival and Selection in Folk Music Tradition
In Chapter 3, I put forward that tunes from both the ‘Historic’ and ‘Early’ categories
which had survived for approximately two generations could be considered as part ofthe process of tradition. I then introduced the destabilising concept caused bycontemporary print being the source of both the majority of the historic andcontemporary tunes. This instability is not due the textual nature of the sources.
Although inherited notions of folk music might see the reliance on contemporary print
as contrary to its values, it has been established that modern scholarly thought accepts
textual sources to have played a major role in transmission.

848

For example the exclusively ‘ear playing’ musicians.
Roud, Folk Song in England, pp. 381-83.
850
Ibid. p. 381.
851
Ibid. pp. 25-26.
849

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The destabilising factors result from the role played by the music publishers in theselection of the tunes, and the uncertainty regarding continuous survival. It becomesapparent that the tunes could be representative of a revival by the commerciallymotivated publishers rather than survival through continuity by the participants.
Bohlman describes revival as:
an overt and explicit act of authentication. The revivalist not only identifies a
specific time and place for folk music but is fundamentally concerned withrecreating its value-laden social context.852
Although the specific term of folk music was not in general use at the time, were thepublishers attempting to re-create certain values through a connection with the past
which they believed may have existed through the older material? Similarly, we do notknow if the publishers were acting on demands made by the consumers, theparticipants in the musical practice who sought to seek out this material as a means toauthenticate past values and revive a tradition they believed to have existed.
The immense influence of music publishers in selecting and forming or informing thisvernacular amateur musical practice could be seen to mirror the actions of the earlyfolk song collectors, who were accused of hegemony in mid-late-twentieth-century
folk music literature, whereby the music was seen to be coming ‘top down’, in thiscase, from a handful of publishers. Although commercial success of print relies on twoway interaction, that the process was dominated by the publishers who had the powerof selection is important. Further, the publishers may not have been continuing aprocess, but selecting tunes which may have been out of the repertoire for decades oreven centuries,853 thus skipping many generations and rather than playing a part in theformation of the process of folk tradition may instead have been responsible for
initiating a revival.
The modern tunes are also problematic in this regard. We have established that
despite being ‘popular’ and contemporary the modern repertoire can be perceived aspart of tradition (as factors such as genre and age are irrelevant in modern concepts of852

Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World, p. 130.
It could be argued that if the tunes were so well-known there would be little commercial reason to
publish them and thus the published ones and consequently those found in the manuscripts are the lesswell-known tunes. However, relating this to modern practice, I find it doubtful.
853

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tradition, and as such minstrel or musichall songs can form or become part of folk
music tradition).854 However, does a potential hiatus or ‘discontinuation’ render them
part of a revival rather than a tradition: a revival instigated by subsequent musicians in
the case of the ‘popular’ tunes, and by both the publishers and subsequent playerswith regards to the historic tunes? Thus, two key elements of ‘when’ and ‘who’ need
to be explored when examining whether these aspects of the manuscripts are more
representative of a revival rather than a survival of a tradition.
Kidson, writing in 1907, appears to find a temporal hiatus unproblematic: “Some ofthese go to sleep for fifty or sixty years, or even a century, but they, like musical Rip
Van Winkles or Sleeping Beauties, are roused from slumber and take their place in theranks of modern music”.855 More recently, Atkinson identifies that the:temporal continuity between the past and present…and the spatial connection
between different places…is now recognised as being more apparent thanabsolute. The ‘continuity’ is in fact perceived in the present, where it isdeliberately given expression through the conscious selection and privileging ofthese particular cultural forms and products.856
As such, tradition is constantly in a state of flux,857 and “expresses a relationshipbetween the past and the present which is both continuous and discontinuous”.858
Atkinson discusses the social and cultural discontinuities which constitute a revival
over a tradition and concludes that:the merit of the concept and terminology of ‘revival’ lies in its inherent
acknowledgement that a substantial discontinuity (very often a social one) has
intervened. Nevertheless, temporal, spatial, social, and epistemologicaldiscontinuities can all in principle also be accommodated by a model of
tradition that is both selective and affective, and which is itself prone todiscontinuities and change.859
Therefore, whether the tunes continued to be played, or if a chronological lapse
occurred and they re-emerged several generations later, they can still be considered aspart of the process of tradition, rather than a revival.
854

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 600.
Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', p. 82.
856
Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 147.
857
Atkinson describes tradition as “continually altering to suit a changed circumstances and new
ideological requirements; the process of the selection and privileging of cultural forms and products isalways going on”. Ibid.
858
Ibid. p. 148.
859
Ibid. p. 155.
855

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Atkinson suggests that by personally selecting repertoire which gave a connection to
the past, the folk song collectors or ‘early revivalists’ were demonstrating continuity as
required in a process of tradition:
Thus for all the discontinuities introduced by the early revival, especially socialand performative discontinuities, the very fact that the revival itself was avolitional and overtly selective movement provides, paradoxically, a channel fora degree of theoretical continuity between traditional and revival activities…theselectivity of the early revivalists was not as far removed from the traditional
process as is sometimes suggested.860
A parallel between the early folk song collectors and the publishers can be seen. If nocontinuous evidence of a tune can be found, the role of the publishers in selecting andre-introducing the historic tunes into the musicians’ repertoire via their printed
publications could, like the folk song collectors, be considered not as indicative of arevival but part of the process of tradition. However, we do not know if their actions
were a deliberate act to connect with the past, a “specific goal of editors to spur
revival, to make the folk music of the past live again”,861 or whether their motives were
driven by widespread popularity and commerciality and as such some uncertainty
remains.
Wider literature would suggest that the ‘folks’’ lack of control in the selection process
does undermine the tunes’ involvement in the process of tradition. Kidson suggeststhat the role of the folk in the selection process is important:
I believe in the popular verdict, where we can get that verdict into true focus.
This focussing can only be done by at least two generations of people, and if afavourable verdict is returned by them then I think we may accept as true artthat which has won their approval. Therefore I rank as high-class melody thatwhich has appealed to the masses of previous ages as well as to our own.862
At opposite ends of the chronological spectrum, Roud too implies the importance of
personal involvement:

860

Ibid. p. 152.
Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World, p. 131.
862
Kidson, 'The Vitality of Melody', pp. 82-83.
861

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It is the process through which the songs pass, in the brains and voices ofordinary people, which stamps them as ‘folk’…it is not the origin of a songwhich makes it ‘folk’, but what the ‘folk’ do with it.863
The publishers with their potential commercial motivations were not the ordinary
people.
Until these printed sources are examined in depth, and their respective sources
investigated the process will remain hidden. We will not know if the tunes have passed
down in continuous practice into the manuscripts, or whether they have skipped
generations. Whilst this temporal continuity may not have an impact on their inclusionas part of tradition, we will likely never know the subtle cultural and social motivations
behind the publishers’ choice to re-introduce these tunes and as such whether asubstantial social or cultural discontinuity has intervened,864 more aligned with theprocess of revival than tradition.
The Role of Orality/Aurality
It is at this point that the interaction of orality/aurality and text becomes a central
theme, and a crucial revelation illustrates the possible interface (andmisunderstanding) between oral/aural and literate cultures. Despite all threecompilers writing a manuscript book not one signs their names on their marriage
certificates. I believe this provides fascinating evidence of a cultural or social effectwhich occurred within the nineteenth-century working-class psyche and proves that it
is impossible to fully understand the past.
As shown in Figure 89, both Ann and Thomas Hampton mark a cross,865 implying
illiteracy. Hampton’s marriage and manuscript date from the same time removing the
likelihood that one reflects skills learnt later in life.

863

Roud, Folk Song in England, pp. 22-23. Although quoted in Chapter 1 it is important and relevant
enough to re-quote here.
864
Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 155.
865
Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate for Thomas Hampton and Ann Wyatt.

215

Figure 89 : Certified Copy of Thomas Hampton's Marriage Certificate, 1870.

Intrigued by Hampton’s situation, I examined both Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck’s
marriage certificates. The original marriage certificate of Till/Clutterbuck can be foundamongst the Smith/Clutterbuck papers, and is shown in Figure 90.866 The certificate
appears to have been completed in its entirety by J H Howard, the curate of St James’
Church. Therefore, as is the case in Hampton, despite knowing he could write, or copy
at the very least, he has not signed his own name.

Figure 90 : Original Marriage Certificate of George Till/Clutterbuck. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Gloucestershire
Archives (D4190\2\1).

866

Marriage Certificate for George Clutterbuck and Emma Crump.

216

So too, Bennett’s certificate (Figure 91),867 is once again completed in full by therector. However, it appears to show Bennett providing a fingerprint as an alternative
to a signature, placed on top of his name and Mary appears to have attempted theletter ‘M’ before her name (see close up in Figure 92). This is despite having evidence
to the contrary, that Bennett could both write and was an accomplished artist.

Figure 91 : Copy of Marriage Certificate of George Bennett, 1859.

Figure 92 : A close-up of George and Mary's 'signatures'.

These important points indicate the possibility that this represents general practicerather than suggestive that none of the compilers could write their own names. My
revelations show the assumptions made by twentieth-century historians areincorrect.868 Basing their statistics of nineteenth-century literacy levels chiefly on
certificate signatures dramatically reduces the validity of their research, research
867

Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate for George W. Bennett and Mary J. Hook.
For example see David Vincent, Literacy and Popular Culture : England 1750-1914, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 16-18.
868

217

which is still relied upon in current scholarship.869 In turn, this demonstrates the wider
and interdisciplinary value of these manuscripts as primary sources.
Thompson puts forward an interesting explanation, proposing that elements ofmodesty and self-deprecation were in play, in order not to appear different from theirfriends and community.
It was surprising to find how many of the old people in the hamlet who had had
no regular schooling could yet read a little. A parent had taught some; others
had attended a dame school or the night school, and a few had made their own
children teach them later in life. Statistics of illiteracy of that period are often
misleading, for many who could read and write sufficiently well for their own
humble needs would modestly disclaim any pretentions to being what theycalled ‘scholards’. Some who could write their own name quite well would
make a cross as signature to a document out of nervousness or modesty.870
Their ideal for themselves and their children was to keep to the level of thenormal. To them outstanding ability was no better than outstanding
stupidity.871
The danger of relying on marriage certificate signatures as a level of literacy has been
identified by Sykes, who estimates that between 10% and 25% of marriage certificates
do not reflect the literacy capabilities of the couple with one or both refusing to signout of “embarrassment caused by poor writing or, more likely, for fear of embarrassinga partner unable to sign”.872 Thus corroborating Thompson’s memoirs and providing an
explanation for the compilers’ apparent illiteracy. The historical document is appearing
to give us fact, yet the reality is different. Gammon’s quote from Joyce sums this up:“…the events, structures and processes of the past are indistinguishable from theforms of documentary representation, the conceptual and political appropriations, andthe historical discourses that construct them”.873 Lemire asks: “Does signing one’s
name in a marriage register count as proof of literacy?”,874 however this research has

869“Literacy statistics are difficult to calculate but the commonly accepted measure is 'signatureliteracy'; the most comprehensive survey of this in the Victorian period is on marriage certificates”. Paul
Rodmell, 'Introduction', in Music and Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Britain, ed. by Paul Rodmell(London & New York: Routledge, 2016), (p. 3).
870
Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 80.
871
Ibid. p. 192.
872
Sykes, 'The Evolution of Englishness in the English Folksong Revival, 1890-1914', p. 453.
873
Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, p. 4.
874
Devon Lemire, 'A Historiographical Survey of Literacy in Britain between 1780 and 1830',
Constellations, 4. 1 (2012), 248-61 (p. 249).

218

shown that it is equally important to pose the question: Does not signing one’s namein a marriage register count as proof of illiteracy?
By their use of statistics based on nineteenth-century marriage certificate signatures,historians have likely assumed a lower level of nineteenth-century literacy thanexisted. In the same way, in this field it is important not to make assumptions
regarding lack of orality/aurality based on the textual and literate nature of themanuscripts. Despite this chapter proving that the compilers’ method of inward
transmission was by copying from print, implying they could read and write music, it
does not mean that was their only source of the tunes – they could have learnt thetunes aurally (either years ago or contemporaneously) and subsequently sought themin accessible ‘cheap’ print for speedier copying. As such, it remains possible that the
inward textual transmission method into the manuscripts is potentially skewing theactual reliance on orality/aurality, which, if true would draw the manuscripts closer tofolk music tradition, in both the inherited sense of the term and in modern usage, withregards to the selection and survival issues highlighted.
This has binary connotations. Despite this chapter having shown that the compilers
were drawing their direct influence from printed published texts, there is not (andlikely never will be), evidence to suggest that they were not first hearing the tunes
aurally. Older tunes could have been passed down aurally/orally through the family,875
or more contemporaneously, through informal playing by a friend or in the moreformal setting of a concert. Subsequently, finding their musical literacy skills to be amore reliable, effective and swift manner in which to recall the tune, they sought
printed copies of the tunes. From this they would then copy the tune into theirmanuscripts and learn or practice the tune into their repertoire.
If this was the case, this would have parallels with my own experience. Having the skills
of musical literacy, I find that taking a photocopy, or copying a tune from a tunebook
by hand is a more reliable way to capture a tune which I have heard and wish to learn.
Frequently (although by no means exclusively), the initial transmission of a tune into
875

In A Song for Every Season, Bob Copper describes how his father’s 1936 song book was the result of aconcerted effort not to forget the songs passed down through the family. Whilst I am not suggestingthat he necessarily sought them in print to then copy, I am using this as an example to show thefunction of his song book to preserve songs which formed a family tradition, a possible function for the
manuscripts. Copper, A Song for Every Season, p. 2.

219

my consciousness is via aural means, having heard a recording or performance of it
rather than taking it directly from a textual source.
Similarly then, whether the survival in print was continuous or not, and whatever theexact role played by the musicians themselves in the selection process, is not ofparamount importance. It is not known, and likely will never be known to what extent
print was only a partial route to inward transmission. Whilst it might have been the‘direct’ route into the physical manuscripts, initial ‘inward transmission’ could havebeen strongly associated with oral/aural transmission or via older printed tunebooks
or manuscripts and dominated by the ordinary folk themselves rather than publishers.
As such, the manuscripts would be well placed in notions of folk music tradition, bothin the received view of the term and as examples of process, as it is considered inmodern discourse.
Gammon and MacPherson note the potential interaction between oral/aural andliterate culture within the manuscripts. In the Turner MS, Gammon highlights the factthat Turner wrote a list of country dances but omitted the actual tunes. Gammon asks
whether “Turner knew these from memory or was there a third manuscript book thathas failed to survive?”.876 Gammon develops this further, suggesting that the list could
represent tunes he knew from memory and that the manuscripts could reflect therepertoire “he was learning, had learnt or would like to play”.877 Similarly, singer Henry
Burstow was known to keep a list of the tunes he knew off by heart,878 and
MacPherson raises a similar point regarding the interplay with regards to theperformance of tunes:
It is all too easy to assume that 17th-and 18th-century fiddlers regularly played
from these volumes and that the music therein was what they played; or thatthe various editions of the DM [Dancing Master] and similar anthologies arecollections of transcriptions from performance…Once these assumptions arechallenged, a host of questions follows. Did anyone, in fact, play from thecountry dance books? ...How would an individual fiddler’s repertoire havecompared with that in the country dance books? How would his tune versions
have compared with those in printed sources?879

876

Gammon, 'Michael Turner. A 19th Century Sussex Fiddler (Mt068)'.
Vic Gammon, Email Correspondence (23 October 2017).
878
Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, p. 6.
879
MacPherson, 'The Music of the English Country Dance', p. 102.
877

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These examples refer to the outward transmission of the tunes but there is no reason
to discount a similar interface with regards to inwards transmission.

Conclusion
The content in the manuscript, whether historic or contemporary, was chiefly
transmitted via copying. On the surface this undoubtedly dispels the notion ofaural/oral transmission as an important means of dissemination into the manuscripts.
Furthermore, the tunes were copied from printed sources and moreover,contemporary, commercial printed sources, rather than sources necessarily
contemporary to the tunes’ origin. Although copying from contemporary print is not inline with a received idea of folk music, in a modern perspective, such characteristics sit
happily in a definition framed by process rather than origin and orality/aurality.
Aspects related to these important printed sources were explored, such as
relationships between publishers and composers/arrangers, the legality of copying,lack of research into Victorian vernacular printed music and their survival compared tothe manuscripts.
The role played by publishers in selecting this material, as opposed to the folkthemselves, and the inability to trace the continuous survival of the tunes, bears
weight in considering if the manuscripts embody notions of folk music tradition.
However, when the notion of a potential relationship between both the aural/oral andthe textual nature of the manuscripts is considered, it becomes clear that judging theplace of the manuscripts based purely on their textual nature is flawed. The extent towhich oral/aural culture affected the inward transmission into the manuscripts will
likely never be known.
Notwithstanding this new dimension with regards to inwards transmission, it cannot
be denied that the compilers were reliant on the printed sources and copied them.
This raises three key questions which remain: How could the men from the lower-classdemographic afford, access and interpret these printed sources? These questions
make up the enquiry in Chapter 6. Prior to this, Chapter 5 returns to the evidence
shown in Chapter 3 regarding the range of genres. By considering the various genrescontextually, the outward transmission, or performance from the manuscripts is221examined, to continue the examination into the manuscripts’ place in folk music
tradition.

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Chapter 5 – Outward Transmission

Figure 93 : Thomas Webster, ‘A Village Choir’, c1847. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki.

Inherited notions of the performance of nineteenth-century vernacular music,
received via fictional literature, oral narratives, contemporary newspaper reports andwider literature conjure up images of informal rural gatherings often centred on a pub
or dancing.880 The use of manuscripts at these events is rarely documented and theabsence of citing textual material in oral narratives and iconographic evidence suggeststhat most participants were ‘ear players’, or that manuscript or printed books were notshown for social or cultural reasons or simply not used.881 Interestingly, when clarifying
his definition of folk song, Roud states that, “however learnt (even if from print ormusical notation), performance is normally carried without the aid of written text or
notated tune”,882 but I would prefer to have more evidence to substantiate thisstatement.883 Modern discourse offers little more on the subject of performance
space, nor the use of textual sources at the point of performance, although thefollowing descriptions given by Roud are comparable with those that come via
received history. He defines key parameters which indicate that to be considered as
folk music the performance is informal, amateur, non-commercial and face-to-face.

880

Evidence is given in the discussion below.
Exceptions do exist of course, for example the two paintings referenced in this chapter and thedescription by Thompson discussed later: Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 69.
882
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 24.
883
For discussion on this in the context of singing see: Neil V. Rosenberg, '"It Was a Kind of a Hobby" : A
Manuscript Song Book and Its Place in Tradition', in Folklore Studies in Honour of Herbert Halpert, ed. byKenneth S. Goldstein and Neil V. Rosenberg (Newfoundland: Memorial University of Newfoundland,1980), pp. 315-34.
881

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Moreover, the performance place or situation is important because it is here that theprocess occurs.884
Initially I examine the sacred material in the manuscripts to set the investigation in thecompilers’ wider social and cultural framework. I then turn to secular repertoire wherea multi-functional musical practice can be seen which can be divided loosely into two
defining categories. The first defines music that accompanies a specific function, which
I have labelled ‘Utilitarian’ and the other, ‘Aesthetic’ where the function is lessobvious, and genre or performance exists in its own right, largely for pleasure. I thenaddress the motivation of the compilers to play music. The final section brings
together two key issues within the framework of folk music tradition. Firstly, I consider
the wider argument of the performance space or functions’ role in situating themanuscript practice in folk music tradition, and secondly, how the use of manuscripts
in outward transmission may affect this.

Sacred Repertoire
Until now the thesis has not scrutinised the manuscripts’ religious content to the same
extent as the secular. However, each manuscript contains religious material to varying
degrees which is useful to examine when evaluating the overall musical activity of themusicians. Hampton, despite baptizing his first child in a parish church, appears to be
Nonconformist as the four religious items in Hampton MS, found amongst the secular
tunes, are Nonconformist hymns. Their inclusion does not verify participation or
performance in a chapel environment, and although Ainsworth’s research into
Nonconformist practice suggests this could have been a possibility,885 for Hampton thetunes could simply indicate personal devotion or recreational playing at home.
However, the form, style, layout and genre of the Anglican hymns and psalms in
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett MSS, infer a stronger contextual use: that within a West
Gallery church band. These bands were made up of villagers from the skilled and semiskilled members of the working class,886 and provided music to accompany theservices, often from the upper West Gallery. The bands were integral to the884

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 35.
Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', p. 369.
886
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 31.
885

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soundscape of the village, providing informal music in the pubs and accompanying
local dances and club days. From mid-century onwards, these musicians were ousted
from their role in the church as the bands were disbanded, often replaced by an organor piano. Musicians and music in this context, and the consequence of theirsubsequent decline have been researched in depth by Gammon,887 and documented
by Hardy,888 and Baring-Gould.889
Thomas Webster’s painting (c1847), The Village Choir (see Figure 93),890 is a helpful
iconographical resource in contextualising these sacred items. It depicts a mixed age
and gender group,891 singing and playing in the West Gallery of a church. The image is
especially informative in this study as it provides evidence of the use of textual sources
and implies levels of general and musical literacy. It is interesting to see Webster’s
preliminary sketch for the painting, conceivably based on an actual scene (Figure 94),
and thus could be a more accurate representation of the activity.892

Figure 94 : Sketching by Webster for ‘The Village Choir’. Source: www.royalacademy.org.uk.

887

Ibid. It is also important to reference other scholars in this field. Sally Drage’s work is particularly
useful as it considers Church music from a Nonconformist perspective. See, for example, Sally Drage,'The Larks of Dean: Amateur Musicians in Northern England', in Music in the British Provinces, 16901914, ed. by Rachel Cowgill and Peter Holman (Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2016), pp. 195-221;
Nicholas Temperley, The Music of the English Parish Church, (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1979).
888
Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree.
889
Baring-Gould, Old Country Life, p. 244.
890
Wikimedia Commons, 'File: Thomaswebster - the Village Choir.Jpg', Wikimedia Commons (2018)<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/> [accessed 30 October 2018].
891
It is noteworthy that the representation of females is only in the choir and by girls rather than
women instrumentalists.
892
Royal Academy, 'A Preparatory Study for 'the Village Choir', Ca. 1847', Royal Academy of Arts (2018)<https://www.royalacademy.org.uk> [accessed 15 April 2018].

225

Secular Repertoire
The context of the secular content is not so immediately clear. Although the titles
indicate that the majority of the secular tunes are dances, the occasions andenvironments for performance by amateur musicians are not well documented. This isespecially true for the more informal occasions where information is incredibly scant.
Searching local newspaper articles for the mention of the specific compilers’ names
within secular musical environments proved fruitless apart from Soobroy, discussed
below. On face-value this might suggest Hampton, Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck had no
involvement in the secular musical activities of their communities. However, toiling forhours copying out tunes, collating a repertoire possibly in candlelight, after a long day
at work and presumably putting in time to learn the tunes and improve technical skill,
without a rewarding outlet for such a repertoire is maybe unlikely.
Being unable to obtain information regarding the case-study compilers’ specificmusical activities resulted in evidence from wider literature, oral narratives, images
and newspapers being sought. In newspapers, information often only comes forth in
the court or ‘Local Intelligence’ sections of newspapers, reporting on the musicalactivities contextually or as an aside to the frequently drink-induced crime which has
occurred.893 Although this research illuminated practices of vernacular musicians it did
not specifically target the activities relating directly to manuscript use. Similarly,
examining photographs from the late-nineteenth-century revealed fascinating imagesof musicians and band line-ups yet none showed the use of manuscripts. Likewise,
there was written evidence regarding activities of vernacular musicians, but very little
referring to their method of recalling the tunes. For this reason, I decided not to use
these more generalised lines of research as a starting point, but instead to pursue
musical activity directly implied by the repertoire in the manuscripts. Whilst I have only
limited proof that the case-study compilers were involved, the evidence suggests if not
involvement, then enough interest in the events or occasions to warrant imitation of
the same style of music for their own entertainment.
As outlined in the introduction, this section navigates through two chief aspects ofoutward transmission: a utilitarian function such as playing for dances, including social

893

See below.

226dancing and solo, exhibition dances, and possible involvement in processional
community or military events and an aesthetic function, whereby the manuscripts
represent a musical culture that exists simply for pleasure, to entertain both performer
and a possible audience. There are crossovers and the division is not drawn to imply
exclusivity and create restrictive boundaries, but to aid clarity in narrative, and to draw
conclusions on how the differing function of outward transmission can impact the ideaof the manuscripts and their musical practice in folk music tradition.
Utilitarian
Hampton’s MS is given the title, ‘Dances for Violin’ implying a functional role for the
manuscript and its contents. This section considers some of the practical functions inwhich the tunes and the musicians may have been involved.
Social Dancing

Figure 95 : Condy’s ‘The Court Dinner at Cotehele’ c1836. Photo: © National Trust/John Hammond. Source:
Rachel Hunt, National Trust House and Collections Manager at Cotehele House.

Many tune titles indicate that a potential activity or function for all three musicians
was to accompany dancing. This does not necessarily mean they were members oforganised dance bands, and the participatory element, if at all, could have been for227

smaller community events or for their own entertainment. The scope represented in
the manuscripts demonstrates influence of dance forms popular in the eighteenthcentury,894 such as Scottish reels and country dances, through the early-nineteenthcentury emergence of the waltz, quadrilles, polkas and galop to the mid-century
varsoviana, lancers and schottische. The purpose of this section is to detect theoccasions and context in which the musicians could have been engaged,895 and not toprovide an abridged history of the individual dances.
A dance programme was found within the Smith/Clutterbuck papers belonging to
George Till/Clutterbuck’s daughter, Kate (Figure 96).896 Despite dating eighteen years
after the manuscript it reflects a similar repertoire, listing a varsoviana, a schottische,waltzes, quadrilles, polkas, lancers and galops, all of which can be found in
Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Figure 96 : Kate Clutterbuck/Till’s 1884 Dance Programme. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Gloucestershire Archives(D4190\3\1).

894

It is important to note that whilst the manuscripts include the dance forms from earlier periods, thetunes are frequently contemporary, for example many of the waltzes in the manuscripts do not datefrom the early-nineteenth-century but were newly composed when included.
895
If indeed the manuscripts were being used beyond a personal recreational function.
896
Gloucestershire Archives, Dance Programme for Berechurch Hall, D4190/28 (1884). Whilst it mightseem surprising that the daughter of an Agricultural Labourer would attend such events, the papers
showed Kate to have become heavily involved with the Women’s Institute, which perhaps offered
opportunities to rise up the social scale or have access to such events.

228

Condy’s painting of ‘A Tenants’ Supper at Cotehele’ (c. 1836), (Figure 95),897 depictsmusicians entertaining and seemingly accompanying a song which is being sung by thewhole hall. Whilst not actively engaged in dancing, newspaper evidence of other such
events, suggest that dancing would follow the supper.898 Figure 97 shows a close up of
the musicians depicting two violinists and a ‘cellist reading from sheets of music. It isdifficult to ascertain whether this is printed or hand-written music, but illustrates
musically literate musicians entertaining at large, relatively formal gatherings, andmoreover, a rare iconographical example of reading from written music at the point ofoutward transmission.

Figure 97 : A close-up on the musicians in Condy's ‘The Court Dinner at Cotehele’. Photo: © National Trust/John
Hammond. Source: Rachel Hunt, National Trust House and Collections Manager at Cotehele House.

Details of large, formal and sophisticated balls can be found within Till/Clutterbuck’s
environment. Berkeley Castle,899 and its occupants, Lord and Lady Fitzhardinge hosted
many balls during the time of Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript.900 At the date of the897

The image used with kind permission from Rachel Hunt, National Trust House and Collections
Manager at Cotehele House. The picture hangs at: Mount Edgcumbe House Cornwall, Nicholas Condy the Court Dinner at Cotehele, (c1836). The image is given a different title of ‘A Tenants’ Supper at
Cotehele’ in Mike O’Connor’s notes: Mike O'Connor, The Edgcumbes & Musical History in the Tamar
Valley, (Unpublished, No date).
898
For example, see with reference to Berkeley Castle later in the chapter.
899
Berkeley Castle is only three miles from Till/Clutterbuck’s village of Stone.
900
The castle remains in the same family since it was built in Saxon times, apart from a brief spell from1492 when it was seized by royalty, and is ‘the oldest building in the country to be inhabited by thesame family who built it.’ Berkeley Castle, 'About', Berkeley Castle (No date) <http://www.berkeleycastle.com> [accessed 2017 26 April].

229

manuscript, Maurice Frederick Berkeley held the title of Lord Fitzhardinge, inhabiting
Berkeley Castle, until his death in 1867. The title and castle passed to his son, Liberalparty politician Francis William Berkeley, who resided there from 1867 until his deathin 1896. The estate extends to six-thousand acres, suggesting the family were of great
importance to the tenants and villages surrounding Berkeley.901
Newspapers report on a Tenants’ Ball hosted by the Fitzhardinges in February 1869,
with music supplied by the band of the South Gloucestershire Militia. 902 In 1873 Lord
Fitzhardinge attended a Yeoman’s Ball held at The Berkeley Arms Hotel, with dancing
from 8.30pm until 4am, with Mr Penby’s Quadrille Band providing the music, 903 and in
the 1890s Sam Bristowe’s Quadrille Band appears to be much in favour at dances in
the castle. However, the highlight of 1871 in Berkeley must have been the muchreported visit of the Prince of Wales,904 hosted by Lord and Lady Fitzhardinge at
Berkeley Castle. A grand Tenants’ Ball was given, again with the band of the South
Gloucestershire Militia. The dancing started at 10.30pm with The Prince of Wales andLady Fitzhardinge partnering each other for the opening quadrille. Dancing continued
with polkas, waltzes (the Prince’s favourite dance),905 and schottisches, finishing at
2.30am with ‘Sir Roger de Coverley’. One newspaper report lists some of theattendees, which includes a Mr & Mrs J Clutterbuck from Ham Fallow and a Till family
from Coaley, relations of George perhaps.906 Appendix F shows a transcription of
relevant points from two newspaper articles which describe the ball and is worthy ofinclusion as it creates an image of the enormity of the event which must have hadsome influence on the inhabitants of the surrounding hamlets and villages such as
Till/Clutterbuck.
901

Berkeley Castle, 'The Berkeley Castle Estate', Berkeley Castle (No date) <http://www.berkeleycastle.com/estate.php> [accessed 26 April 2017].
902'Berkeley - Lord Fitzhardinge's Tenants' Ball', Gloucester Journal, 13 February 1869,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017] p. 8. The Royal South
Gloucestershire Militia and the Fitzhardinges had previous associations as Earl Fitzhardinge wassubaltern of (or led) the Militia in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century. David Smith, 'The
Berkeley Castle Muniments', Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 125(2007), 11-28 (p. 19) [accessed 22 April 2017]; Charles Kent, 'The Peerage', The Peerage (2017)<http://www.thepeerage.com/e310.htm> [accessed 17 April 2017].
903'Berkeley - Yeomanry Ball', Gloucester Journal, 11 January 1873,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017] p. 8.
904
The Prince of Wales was the future Kind Edward VII.
905
'The Prince of Wales at Berkeley Castle', Gloucester Journal 21 January 1871,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017] p. 5.
906'The Prince of Wales at Berkeley. Ball to the Tenantry', Western Daily Press, 14 January 1871,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017] p. 3.

230

In the newspaper excerpt the musicians comprise the band of the South
Gloucestershire Militia. A subsequent newspaper article comments specifically on theband, which notably appears to have included string players:
THE MILITIA BAND AT BERKELEY CASTLE – We are informed that His RoyalHighness the Prince of Wales passed very high encomiums on the stringed band
selected by Mr. T. Hinton, the band master of the Royal South Gloucestershire
Militia, to play during the recent royal visit to Berkeley Castle. His Royalhighness sent a special request that the band would repeat the overture to
Figaro, and remarked that, taking into consideration the number of performers,
the band was as good as any he had heard in the metropolis.907
Employing named and seemingly established dance bands, or volunteer militia bands isreflected in other newspaper reports of dances around the country. Attempts to findTill or Clutterbuck listed as members of any bands have failed. Nonetheless, it remains
possible that the case-study compilers were unnamed members of such bands.
Alternatively, their involvement could have leant towards more informal activities,
gathering to play for dances on a smaller scale, such as at: club day feasts; Whitsun
ales; village feast days; “revels, harvest homes, ringers' suppers, shearing feasts”;908
servant’s balls;909 weddings; wakes; and hiring fairs at various locations ranging fromgentry country houses and assembly rooms to barns, village halls and pubs.910
Hardy, Gammon and Baring-Gould all document the additional musical activities
pursued by church musicians detailed above, strengthening the possibility of
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett at least, being participants in these activities. In line with
Hardy’s preface,911 Baring-Gould corroborates these musicians’ use of manuscripts:
these instrumentalists attended all the festivities in a village, wakes, harvest
homes, revels, and weddings, and were well received and well treated. They
played old country dances, old ballads, old concerted pieces of no ordinary
merit. In some parish chests may be found volumes of rudely written music,
which belonged to these performers, mostly sacred, but not always so.912

907'Berkeley', Gloucester Journal, 21 January 1871, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
Sabine Baring-Gould, Old Country Life, 2nd edn, (West Yorkshire: EP Publishing, 1975), p. 243.
909
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 70.
910
Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale, p. 3.
911
As cited at the opening of the thesis.
912
Baring-Gould, Old Country Life, p. 244.
908

231

A long article exists in the 1864 Somerset County Gazette reporting on the Harvest
Home of Bennett’s village, Chedzoy.913 Despite featuring dancing and festivities, theday was presided over by the vicar and focussed around the church, thus minimisingthe “excesses which usually render these gatherings objectionable”.914 The event
would have perhaps resembled a more genteel Harvest Festival than the raucous
Harvest Homes of more ancient times,915 as referred to in the article and by BaringGould below. Chandler’s research further supports the involvement of amateur
musicians at such events and not only those from a church tradition. 916 Scan Tester’soral narrative also corroborates this which despite covering a slightly later time period,
suggests it was a continuation rather than a revivalist practice.917 Many colourful anddescriptive narratives paint a picture of a thriving and vibrant community musicalculture, indicative of an active role for a local musician, even into the early-twentiethcentury. A ball in 1909 is described in Rippon’s article:
the music of our balls is supplied by one of the fiddlers of the district, who isseated on a chair raised aloft upon a table which forms the minstrels gallery forthe time being…918
and another from 1929 when:after an early evening milking the farm people and their families tramped formiles across the hills to be there by 7.30pm.The band was composed of local
people, whose repertoire, though small, was full of life and vigour…The bandplayed and the dancers danced until, at daybreak, usually about five o’clock,the long trek back to the farms began in order to be there for the morning
milking.919
However, some literature suggests that these smaller, communal events were dying
out. Gammon perceives a “decline in the practice of traditional music-making in thesouth of England from the mid-nineteenth century: the time of the suppression of the913

See Appendix F for transcription.
'Chedzoy Harvest Home', Somerset County Gazette, 3 September 1864,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017] p. 6.
915
Ibid.
916
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'.
917
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215'.
918
Rippon, Discovering English Folk Dance, p. 53.
919
Ibid. p. 54.
914

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church bands”,920 and similar evidence can be seen in newspaper reports. BaringGould too notes their disappearance:
The harvest home is no more. We have instead harvest festivals, tea and cakeat sixpence a head in the school-room, and a choral service and a sermon in the
church. Village weddings are now quiet enough, no feasting, no dancing. There
are no more shearing feasts; what remain are shorn of all their festive
character. Instead we have cottage garden produce shows. The old village'revels' linger on in the most emancipated and expiring semblance of the old
feast. The old ballad-seller no more appears at the fair. I wrote to a famous
broadside house in the west the other day, to ask if they still produced sheetballads, and the answer was, “We abandoned that line thirty years ago;” andno one else took it up.921
Baring-Gould was writing in 1890 and his final sentence suggests that the compilers
were party to the gradual shifting of musical activity. If the case-study musicians wereplaying for smaller scale dances examined above the content suggests that the dances
performed were similar to those at the larger formal balls and consisted of more thanhistoric ‘traditional’ dances. If, as Gammon and Baring-Gould suggest, the informal
dances were generally dying out, and the above examples represent the exception
than the norm, then the presence of such dance repertoire in the manuscripts suggests
this music lingered on in musicians’ repertoires regardless of an occasion. This would
indicate a recreational, aesthetic use and could be indicative of this music existing to
be listened to for pleasure rather than needing a function.
According to newspaper reports and research by Chandler, dancing also occurred at
Victorian fairs, which were major events and vibrant, temporary places in a ruralcommunity.922 There were hiring fairs, fairs to trade animals, fairs to celebrate Whitsun
Ales and annual October fairs.923 One under-researched yet relevant element of thesefairs is the dancing booth, or bowers, which were “long-established features at the
popular and widespread Whitsun Ales”,924 as well as at club days. Gammon quotes
shoemaker, Thomas Geering, writing in 1880, of the booths:

920

Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 70.
Baring-Gould, Old Country Life, p. 280.
922
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'. See especially MT078 re. ‘Dancing Booths’.
923
Ibid.MT064
924
Ibid. A Whitsun fair was still held by the Rogers family at Whitsun on my local common at
Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire in my childhood until the mid-1980s.
921

233

We had our dancing booth with raised orchestra, and planked floor for thedancers. This was the meeting place for lovers. The fiddle screeched, the basses
twanged and grunted as Hodge in his shirt sleeves, with collar unbuttoned, andhis Molly at his side, went up and down the middle, or struck off to the tune of
the “triumph” – a great favourite in those days.925
Chandler, corroborated by many newspaper reports, quotes numerous memoirs
attesting to the popularity of these dancing booths throughout the 1850s-1870s,
employing quadrille bands as well as single fiddlers.926 The booths’ musicians tended tobe peripatetic, travelling with the booths and not likely to have been one of thecompilers, so although noteworthy for their immense presence in the nineteenthcentury vernacular musical backdrop they are largely outside the remit of thisresearch.
Processional Events - Club Days and Military Involvement
Club day walks and civic events would provide another opportunity for functionalmusical participation by amateurs.927 Club days were still active until the end of thenineteenth-century,928 and many newspaper reports corroborate Chandler’s oral
narratives, 929 of music accompanying the parading, often followed by dancing
afterwards.930 Gammon proposes that musicians were structured as institutional or
voluntarily organised bands, suggesting a more formalised existence.931 Influence ofmore formalised settings can be seen in some of the music and instrumentation in
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett MSS perhaps indicating their involvement in brass, reedor fife and drum bands.932 Likewise, the marginalia implied by Bennett’s “Dress

925

Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 57.
Numerous (see Chandler above), but also see this fascinating crime report of a booth owner blocking
the road as an example: 'Rugby - Petty Sessions Tuesday Last', Nuneaton Advertiser, 21 September 1872
<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 4 June 2016] p. 2.
927
Club days were annual festive days held by the various Friendly Societies. Friendly Societies were “anearly cooperative form of social welfare on a local and increasingly national scale”: Christian Roy,
Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia, Volume 1, (California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2005), p. 496.
928
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'. MT078
929
Ibid.
930
See also: Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 125.
931
Ibid. p. 126.
932
It is important to point out that even if their instruments and repertoire suggest they were membersof the volunteer militia or brass bands, their involvement is not exclusive, and the repertoire andinstruments also corroborate involvement in dances or amateur recreational pursuits of less formalised
institutional music making. In Bennett’s case, the cornet does not necessarily make him (exclusively) a
brass band member thus nullifying his relevance in this study as it is clear that cornets were valued
dance band instruments and were played by pub instrumentalists too: Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played
to Many Posh Dances" Mt215'.p34
926

234

Jackets”,933 (Figure 98) might hint at involvement in events requiring smarter dress
such as club days.

Figure 98 : Ben.97.1.

The endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS show the initials ‘R.S.G’ (Figure 99), which could
refer to Royal South Gloucestershire, perhaps implying membership, association withor influence by the band of the Royal South Gloucestershire Militia who are associatedwith Berkeley due to the involvement of the Fitzhardinges at Berkeley Castle.934

Figure 99 : Endpiece of Till/Clutterbuck MS.

Research into potential bands with which Bennett could have been associateduncovered the Bridgewater Promenade Band. They played in Bennett’s own village,
three miles from Bridgewater at the Chedzoy Harvest Home in September 1864,
entertaining throughout the day, “whilst the young and old of both sexes availed
themselves of the opportunity of having a dance on the green sward”.935 In January
1860, a newspaper report details a performance, “for the first time since its formation’by the subscription brass band of the ‘Taunton, or Third Somerset Rifle Corps.”. The
distance of seventeen miles between Chedzoy and Taunton suggests Bennett’s
933

Ben.97.1.
In 1911 census Till/Clutterbuck was living with a relative who is a sergeant in the army (see Chapter2), further strengthening some involvement or awareness with military organisations (although
admittedly some years later). I attempted to check the records for Gloucestershire militia members, butthese were not held at Gloucestershire Archives.
935'Chedzoy Harvest Home'.
934

235

membership of this band on a regular basis is unlikely, although it is noteworthy thatthe “Bridgwater, or Fifth Somerset Rifle Corps.” were watching proceedings. It isreported that the band performed ‘Nelly Bly’, The National Anthem, and “popular
selections of music”. The article closes with the comment that “although this was their“first appearance in public” the members of the band acquitted themselves
exceedingly well, and with a little more practice they will form a very pleasing addition
to the attractions of the corps.”.936 Perhaps this event inspired the Bridgwater
Volunteers to create their own band, as in 1861 they are reputed to be an “excellent
band”,937 and within a few years were holding fundraising concerts.938 Attempts toestablish Bennett’s membership of the band have been fruitless.
The evidence above suggests that these bands played popular repertoire, as found in
the manuscripts. Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck’s MSS also have some specificallymilitary themed items. For example, I found ‘Quick Step’, Til.9.1 (Figure 100) in
Hughes’ manuscript (c1811) (Figure 101),939 revealing that the tune was known in theearly-nineteenth-century as the ‘Glocester Quick Step’[sic]. Hughes lived about fifteen
miles from Stone, in Westbury-On-Trym.940 The title suggests that the tune andpossibly Hughes and Till/Clutterbuck, had connections with the military, perhaps theRoyal South Gloucestershire Militia,941 or the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment ofFoot.

Figure 100 : Til.9.1.

936'Inspection of the Taunton Volunteer Rifle Corps.', Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser, 29
February 1860, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 April 2017] p. 8.
937'The Infirmary', Dorset County Chronicle, 26 September 1861,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017] p. 7.
938'The Annual Supper', Somerset County Gazette, 26 January 1867,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 26 March 2016].
939
Hughes, Edward Hughes Music Manuscript Book.
940
This town used to be part of the old county of Gloucestershire.
941
See above.

236

Figure 101 : ‘Glocester Quick Step’ from Hughes MS. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Bristol Archives (40358).

The subsequent tune in Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript, ‘Recruit Quick March’ (Til.10.1),
has a military themed title. It can also be found in Bennett, seen in Figure 102.

Figure 102 : Til.10.1 and Ben.76.1.

Whilst stemming from a popular song called ‘The Young Rekrut’, by C Barthmann,942 a
printed source has the subtitle of quickstep. Military association is also implied by theavailability of this tune in printed sources as brass band,943 and reed band parts,944 andthe tunes’ inclusion in a concert programme of a Volunteer Band and drum and fifeband.945 Other titles indicative of military association within the manuscripts are‘Campaign’ (Til.32.1), ‘The Signal March’ (Ben.38.1), ‘Quick Step’ (Ben.71.1) and‘Britannia The Pride of the Ocean’ (Ben.126.3 and Ben.127.1).

942

Barthmann was perhaps the arranger rather than composer as BL indicate the composer as Wilhelm
Kuchen. British Library Catalogue, 'Explore the British Library Main Catalgoue Search : Rekrut', British
Library (No date) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 5 March 2016].
943
British Library Catalogue, 'The Youngest Recruit. Quick March. [Brass Band Parts.]', British Library (Nodate) <http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 5 March 2016].
944
British Library Catalogue, 'The Young Rekrut Quick Step. [Reed Band Parts.]', British Library (No date)<http://explore.bl.uk> [accessed 6 March 2016].
945'Amateur Musical Performance'. This is discussed in Chapter 3.

237

Throughout the nineteenth-century, aspects of army life were never far from civilian
life and the Militia were frequently recruited from the lower and middle classes,
providing a demographic link to the compilers. They were reputedly lured into thepart-time profession when drunk. 946 The Crimea War (1854), and Indian Rebellion of1857 took its toll on the numbers and in 1858 the Volunteer Rifle Corps (VRC) was
formed to recruit more civilians, each county forming its own unit. Regimental bands
were an important aspect in both the Militia and the VRC, so it is not surprising to seeelements of this music in the manuscript books, juxtaposed with the dance tunes ofthe day, which it transpires also, made up their repertoire.
Morris Dancing
Several of the tunes in Hampton MS suggest accompaniment to Morris dancing.947 The
dating of Hampton’s manuscript suggests the book was compiled when he lived in
Hereford city, but the proficiency shown in the transcriptions’ technical ability could
indicate that he played the violin prior to this, maybe when working on the canal or asa youth in Blaisdon. Details are recorded of a musical life on the water and of a Morrisside only seven miles away from Blaisdon:
Henry Allen was originally from Ruardean and played for the Morris side there
until 1871 when a meeting between rival sides on Plump Hill produced a fightand a fatality.948 When Sharp met him, he was living at Mere Street in
Stratford-on-Avon and playing fiddle on the boats there.949
Furthermore, a possible connection or acquaintance between Hampton and the
Baldwin family of fiddlers, known to Cecil Sharp and researched by Heath-Coleman,might corroborate this theory.950 Both Stephen Baldwin and Hampton knew Ham.4.3
by the unusual name of the ‘Swansea Hornpipe’.951 Stephen, born in Hereford in 1873,
946

Robert Henderson, 'Taking the King's Shilling: Recruitment for the British Army, 1812', Access
Heritage (2001) <http://www.warof1812.ca/recruit.htm> [accessed 4 March 2016].
947
Namely Ham.4.1, Ham.6.3, Ham.7.3, Ham.8.3, Ham.9.1.
948
Plump Hill is equidistant between Ruardean and Blaisdon. Despite further contact with Mentieth andmuch searching, no evidence can be found in newspaper reports for the fatality in 1871. It is possiblethat the event has altered due to oral transmission and perhaps refers to a fight between James Phillips
and Elam Phipps from Plump Hill which took place at The Point Inn following a night of ‘carousing’,
which led to Phipps stabbing Phillips in the thigh, although this does not appear to have been a fatal
wound: 'Newnham - Charge of Stabbing', Gloucester Journal, 21 March 1874,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 April 2017].
949
Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, p. ii.
950
Heath-Coleman, Stephen Baldwin 'Here's One You'll Like, I Think'.
951
Ibid. Track 1 on CD. The tune is more commonly known as the ‘Gloucester Hornpipe’, which, given
the men’s proximity to Gloucestershire makes it strange that they knew it as the ‘Swansea Hornpipe’.

238

played for morris, country dances and gypsy weddings.952 Yet despite moving in thesame geographical area as Hampton, with joint connections to Hereford and the Forestof Dean, he would have been too young to have been a direct musical contemporary ofHampton whilst they were both living in Hereford.
However, Stephen learnt the violin by watching his father Charles Baldwin (1827-1910)
play.953 Charles, born in Newent (only seven miles from Blaisdon), also moved in
geographically similar locations to Hampton. Remarkably, Charles was living in
Hereford, about a mile away from Thomas in 1871 and the possibility exists that thetwo fiddlers knew each other during this time. Not only do they share a mutual musicalinterest, but in 1861, when Thomas’ father and brothers were transporting charcoal on
the Hereford and Gloucester canal, Charles was working as a charcoal burner in
Newent,954 through which the canal passed.955
With a likelihood of a social or work-related connection between the Hampton and
Baldwin families comes a similarity of repertoire. The recording of Stephen and thecollection of Charles’ and Stephen’s tunes show six tunes in common with Hampton’srepertoire.956 The function of the recordings and Sharp’s collecting was to findtraditional tunes. If a more popular repertoire was included, I believe there would beeven more tunes in common. Heath-Coleman’s research shows that Charles played for
the Clifford’s Mesne morris, which is directly between Blaisdon (five miles) and
Newent (three miles).957 Evidence given in Chapter 6 shows the men travelled for theirmusic, making the opportunity of the two men meeting reasonably likely and making
the suggestion that Hampton had also played for the Clifford’s Mesne morris credible,

This may suggest that contemporary print was the source, and there exists the possibility that ‘ear
player’ Baldwin learnt it from someone, tenuously Hampton, who had acquired the tune or name fromprint.
952
Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, p. ii.
953
Heath-Coleman, Stephen Baldwin 'Here's One You'll Like, I Think', p. 2.
954
Ibid. p. 3.
955
Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust, 'Maps', Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust (Nodate) <http://www.h-g-canal.org.uk> [accessed 26 April 2017].
956
Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire. (Ham.3.1, Ham.4.3,
Ham.5.3, Ham.13.1, Ham.6.3, Ham.8.2).
957
Heath-Coleman, Stephen Baldwin 'Here's One You'll Like, I Think', p. 4.

239

due to his possible connection with Baldwin, his location and the inclusion of Morris
tunes in the manuscript.958
One such tune, Ham.4.1 is of interest due to the deviation from the normal key inwhich it is found. Hampton writes the tune in A major which is an interesting choice as
G major would fall under the fingers more easily on a fiddle. Although a direct source
for this tune (in A major) was found, it is possible that he chose this source as the key
fitted with that played by a fellow musician, the key suggesting a tuned pipe. 959 Whilst
fiddles were the main accompanying instrument for Morris from the 1840s, theysuperseded the pipe and tabor.960 The potential association with Morris iscorroborated further as family members of the Hampton line have played for Morris
dancing throughout the twentieth-century. This involvement could stem from a now
forgotten continuation of a family pastime.
Hornpipes
Hornpipes are one of the most represented dance or tune genres in the overallmanuscript tally (14%), with high individual representation (Hampton: 19%, Till: 13%,
Bennett: 12%). Before examining the potential functions implied by their inclusion, abrief explanation of the form and its origins may be useful. Hornpipes in the
manuscripts are all of the 4/4 ‘new’ style and not the 3/2 hornpipes of earlier
centuries. In general, they take the structural form of 8AA 8BB and the quaver pairs
are frequently but not always dotted. Honeyman’s 1898 tune book explains threestyles of bowing which differentiate between what he calls the ‘Sailor’s’ style ofhornpipe – generally a rhythmically undotted hornpipe,961 and the dotted hornpipes ofthe ‘Newcastle’ style (which is used for ‘clog dancing or other step dancing’ and isdotted), and the ‘Sand Dance’ style.962 Emmerson dates the ‘new’ style, 4/4 hornpipes

958

Despite attempts to access the morris ring’s records I have been unable to corroborate Hampton’s
involvement.
959
It is possible that Hampton also played pipe/fife as two were passed down to me along with his
fiddle, the manuscript and the printed music. See Chapter 7 for images.
960
Sean Goddard, 'The Morris Tradition', The Morris Ring (2004)<http://themorrisring.org/publications/morris-tradition> [accessed 8th September 2015].
961
Undotted meaning equal pairs of quavers and dotted meaning the pairs of quavers are split between
a dotted quaver and a semi-quaver.
962
William C. Honeyman, The Strathspey, Reel, & Hornpipe Tutor (1898), (Aberdeenshire: Catacol,
2008), p. 35. The hornpipes in the manuscripts are transcribed as either ‘Sailor’s’ or ‘Newcastle’ style yet
it is possible that in some of the ‘Sailor’s’ style hornpipes are in fact ‘Newcastle’ hornpipes where thedotted rhythm was not actually transcribed.

240

from 1760,963 yet my research shows they were in existence in the seventeenthcentury.964 Despite all of the manuscripts’ hornpipes being in the ‘new’ style 4/4, time
signature, dating many of them more precisely than post-seventeenth century proved
impossible. Hornpipes were composed throughout the centuries, conforming to asimilar style and when no wider references were available, differentiating by stylistics
was futile, resulting in the category 3X.
An explanation for their widespread popularity comes from their use on theeighteenth-century stage, “the age of the Harlequin and Columbine. They were
performed as entr’acte entertainments during the performance of plays and at theclose”.965 Emmerson suggests that hornpipes’ names often originate from the person
who performed them.966 Evidence of hornpipes whose titles suggest potential celebrity
or eighteenth-century stage connections can be found within the manuscripts detailedin Figure 103, although it must be remembered that they cannot be accurately dated
to this period as they could have existed prior to the stage plays.
MS
HamptonReference
Ham.5.1
Ham.14.1

Ham.14.2
Ham.15.2
Ham.16.1
Till/Clutterbuck Til.2.1
Bennett
Ben.115.1

Title‘Runns Hornpipe’‘Byrne Hornpipe’ (also known as ‘Grimaldi Hornpipe’,967
Grimaldi, a famous early-nineteenth-century clown).
‘Clown’s Hornpipe’‘Millicen’s Favourite Hornpipe’‘Manchester Hornpipe’ known as ‘Rickett’s’ see below
Unnamed but ‘Manchester Hornpipe’ see below‘Jones Hornpipe’Figure 103 : Hornpipes with titles potentially linked to stage plays.

Hornpipes in Till/Clutterbuck MS are all unnamed and although some have been
identified, as above, some remain unidentified. Several of Bennett’s hornpipes are also963

George S. Emmerson, 'The Hornpipe', Folk Music Journal, 2. 1 (1970), 12-34 (p. 17).
This is discussed in Chapter 3, with reference to Ham.5.1.
965
Emmerson, 'The Hornpipe', p. 17.
966
Ibid. p. 23.
967
Heath- Coleman knows this hornpipe as George Foreman’s Hornpipe, Foreman being an old stepdancer. Heath-Coleman also informed me that the tune exists in Watson’s manuscript as Grimaldi
Hornpipe. Heath-Coleman, Email. Chris Partington informed me that Grimaldi was famous clown. Chris
Partington, Email Correspondence (11 February 2016).
964

241

unnamed suggesting the above list could contain more names if the tune titles wereidentifiable.
A vast number of new hornpipes were composed in the period when the musicians
were compiling their manuscripts. This could have been the result of the step-dancing‘craze’ (or indeed the popularity of the hornpipes danced on stage earlier in the
century). A famous fiddler and supposed composer of many contemporary hornpipes
was Scottish born James Hill (c1810-1853) who lived in Tyneside.968 The online
traditional tune discussion forum, ‘The Session’, lists those hornpipes attributed toHill,969 of which two appear in the manuscripts, although it is questionable that all of
the tunes attributed to Hill were actually composed by him.970 ‘Stage Hornpipe’(Ben.114.1), bears much similarity to Hill’s ‘Quayside Hornpipe’, despite the different
name,971 and ‘The Navvie Hornpipe’ (Ham.16.1) is also attributed to Hill.
As cited above, there is much sharing of names. ‘The Swansea Hornpipe’, is also known
as ‘The Gloucester Hornpipe’.972 Till/Clutterbuck MS contains an unnamed hornpipe,
clearly identifiable as ‘The Manchester Hornpipe’, which also appears in Hampton
MS.973 The tune is also found to be known by several other names.974 One such name is‘Rickett’s Hornpipe’, which Hall states dates from 1781 when Aldridge, a stage dancer
968

Mitchell Music, 'James Hill (C1810-1853)', Mitchell Music (No date)<http://www.theladslikebeer.com/james-hill> [accessed 27 April 2017].
969
The Session, 'James Hill', The Session (No date)<https://thesession.org/discussions/3050#comment60464> [accessed 27 April 2017].
970
Mitchell Music, 'James Hill (C1810-1853)'; The Session, 'James Hill'.
971
It is possible that the word ‘Quayside’ has evolved to ‘Stage’, with reference to a landing stage forboats.
972
Ham.4.3.
973
Ham.16.2 and Til.2.1
974
A discussion on the online tune discussion forum, ‘The Session’, shows the numerous titles and theconfusion this can create.‘Cerimatho’ [sic] posts: “’Manchester hornpipe’ in Swansea, it’s used to dance‘The Gower reel’, and Phill Tanner who dowdled the music for dancing, called the tune ‘The Liverpool
hornpipe’. The rest of Wales call it ‘The Wrexham hornpipe’, (Wrexham not being that far from
Liverpool). Variations were played in Wales but under different names – ‘The Spanish hornpipe’, ‘Seven’,and ‘The Aldridge’ amongst others. ‘The Aldridge hornpipe’ is known in England but is a number ofdifferent tunes. Also in England the tune is used by the Bampton Morris, in Oxfordshire as a jig, called‘The Fool’s jig’. Aldridge is near Birmingham but Mr Aldridge was a dancer who had several dance tunes
including hornpipes and allemandes composed for him in the eighteenth century. As if that weren’t
confusing enough, there is another tune called ‘The Wrexham hornpipe’ in Wales, which the people
around that area in North East Wales call ‘The Swansea hornpipe’, which is near Gower.” A subsequent
participant, ‘Ceolachan’[sic] lists the Welsh names by which it is also known: ’Pibddawns Wrecsam’,(‘The Wrexham Hornpipe’); ‘Y Bibddawns Sbaenig’, (‘The Spanish Hornpipe’); ‘Saith’, (‘Seven’);‘Pibddawns Aldridge’, (‘The Aldridge Hornpipe’). The Session, 'Rickett's Hornpipe', The Session (No date)<https://thesession.org/tunes/272> [accessed 1 February 2015]. Punctuation, spelling mistakes andgrammar slightly corrected.

242

published the tune. In turn this became known as ‘Ricketts’ after John Bill Ricketts alate-eighteenth-century American circus promoter, in a similar way to the earlier
hypotheses regarding the tunes taking on performers’ names.975 Similarly, Hampton’s‘Millicen’s Hornpipe’ (Ham.15.2), is also known as ‘The Belfast Hornpipe’.
Many hornpipe tune titles are location related, moreover frequently city-port
locations, such as ‘Belfast Hornpipe’ above, ‘Swansea Hornpipe’ (Ham.4.3), ‘Bristol
Hornpipe’ (Ham.15.1) and ‘Manchester Hornpipe’ (Ham.16.2, Til.2.1). Bennett MS too
has a version of the ‘Swansea Hornpipe’ (Ben.112.1) and ‘The Royal Welsh Hornpipe’(Ben.111.1). A further reason for this trend or indeed the popularity of the hornpipe
could be due to an increased interest in nationalism and patriotism, the hornpipe
being associated with nautical locations (and activity), as the naming implies.
These ‘location’ hornpipes appear to be named due to nautical connections which
could result from their known use in naval cadets’ drills.976 However, their naming islikely more in line with where they were most associated (perhaps still related to thesailors or cadets, although not necessarily so), and clearly some were also known byother names. Despite Emmerson playing down the nautical connection to hornpipes ahistorical narrative from Newcastle describes a binding supper given by an employer tothe keelmen from Newcastle, during which hornpipes were danced.977 As a regularoccurrence at one quayside, it is probable the practice occurred at other quaysides
around the country and may account for the alternative ‘location’ names for thefavoured regional tune to which the hornpipes were danced.978
This also highlights that the compilers or Hampton at least, were not sourcing different
aged hornpipes from different sources. For example, Hampton places Ham.16.1, ‘The
Navvie Hornpipe’ (considered to be a contemporary mid-nineteenth-century
composition by James Hill),979 and Ham.16.2, ‘The Manchester Hornpipe’ (thought to975

Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 78.
Emmerson, 'The Hornpipe', p. 28.
977
A binding supper was described as “a supper when the terms on which they were to serve for theensuing year were agreed upon” Andrew Kuntz and Valerio Pelliccioni, 'Quayside (1) (the)', Traditional
Tune Archive (2014) <http://tunearch.org> [accessed 27 April 2017]; Anon, 'Newcastle', The Land We
Live In: A Pictoral and Literary Sketch-Book, 3 (1847), 147-48.
978Possibly resulting from nothing more than the repertoire knowledge of whichever fiddler they could
find!
979
The Session, 'James Hill'.
976

243

represent a hornpipe common on the eighteenth-century stage (see above)), on thesame page. It is probable that he took them from the same published source, Kerr’s
Merry Melodies Book 1,980 (Figure 104).

Figure 104 : The Navvie and Manchester Hornpipe. Photos: R Dellow. Sources: Ham.16.1-16.2 and Kerr's (pp. 4243).

This would suggest that to the compilers and the publishers, the original provenance ofthe hornpipe was unimportant, meaning that the original function had also lost its
relevance.

980

Kerr, Kerr's First Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin, pp. 42-43.

244

Function of Hornpipes in the Manuscripts
The function of hornpipes in the manuscripts is difficult to determine. No perceivablerole exists in the programmes of balls and other social dances. Both Richardson and
The Ballroom Guide include no mention of hornpipes suggesting they did not have arole at social dances.981 However, Dean-Smith states that “at country assemblies they
were performed both as solos and collectively, the dancers advancing in a row, eachperforming a sequence of steps jealously regarded as exclusive personal property”,982
although she does not provide a date. So too, Emmerson says that late-eighteenth andearly-nineteenth-century reports suggest that hornpipe stepping, “was familiarly
employed in Country Dances wherever these were enjoyed in the British Isles,
although it was regarded as vulgar in the more select assemblies”.983 So although
hornpipes might not be listed as specific dances on the published programmes ofhigher brow dances, in the unrecorded history of lower brow dances it is possible they
were included and might account for their existence in the manuscripts. That said,
although hornpipe stepping might be employed as part of a formal dance it does notnecessarily indicate that dances were performed to a 4/4 8AA8BB ‘hornpipe’ tune.
It is highly likely that hornpipes’ presence in the manuscripts results from theirfunction as the musical accompaniment to the thriving nineteenth-century solo
exhibition dance practice of step-dancing and clogging, see Figure 105 below.984

981

P. J. S. Richardson, The Social Dances of the 19th Century, (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1960); Warne,
The Ballroom Guide.
982
Margaret Dean-Smith, 'Hornpipe (Ii)', Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online., (2017),<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com> [accessed 27 April 2017].
983
Emmerson, 'The Hornpipe', p. 20.
984
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 76. The image was initially foundon page 76 of Reg Hall’s account of Scan Tester and then kindly emailed to me by the author. As part of
the Reg Hall Collection it is scanned from The Graphic, 22 October 1887, and is an engraving by Charles
J. Staniland, the venue is ‘The King’s Head’, Hoverton, Wroxham, Norfolk and the fiddler is the landlord,
Mr Jimpson. Reg Hall, 'I Never Played to Many Posh Dances... Scan Tester, Sussex Musician, 1887-1972',
Keith Summers (Ed) Musical Traditions (1990) <https://www.mustrad.org.uk/pdf/scan05.pdf> [accessed
12 April 2018]; Reg Hall, Email Correspondence (13 April 2018).

245

Figure 105 : ‘Step Dancing in the Tap Room’, The Graphic, 22 October 1887. Source: The Reg Hall Collection.

This activity is documented in the oral narratives recorded by Chandler and Hall, with
Holderness recording an oral narrative stating that “most men done a little bit of
stepping years ago”.985 Step-dancing occurred at informal locations such as the pub,and during functions such as feasts and wakes. However, there is very little written
about this practice in the wider nineteenth-century musical or social history and it isinteresting that the manuscripts might document or support these oral narratives.
Interestingly, the hornpipes appear in the manuscripts in distinct clusters, grouped
together as if to suggest a utilitarian purpose perhaps accompanying step-dancing
within an informal pub setting. However, I believe this might simply be the result of
having been copied directly from printed contemporary sources implying that they
were fashionable tunes to listen to and to play.
Use for Aesthetic Value
Examination of printed music of the time demonstrates the tunes’ popularity andmany ‘hornpipe specific’ tunebooks or sections were found at BL. The possibility existsthat this music was beginning to represent music for music’s sake and that thesehornpipes were played purely for aural enjoyment rather than needing to fulfil afunction such as accompanying a dance. This would account for their appearance inthe programs of penny concerts and amateur concerts.986 As such, an aesthetic
function of the manuscripts, or the musical practice they represent, is possible, the985

Holderness, 'Hindringham. Traditional Music and Dancing in This North Norfolk Village. Mt285'.
See for example advertisements for concerts which include hornpipes: 'Harp Recitals Chesterfield andBrampton Mechanics' Institute', Derbyshire Courier, 21 October 1871,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 April 2017] p. 2.
986

246

tunes existing simply for personal recreation. This is further corroborated by the
inclusion of songs as well as dances within all three manuscripts. The revelation of thestand-alone aesthetic value of the manuscripts’ contents adds another dimension totheir functionality and to the activities of the musicians. Thus, the eclectic mix ofgenres could suggest the function of the musical practice represented by themanuscripts was one of personal recreation and self-entertainment. Before developing
this idea, informal playing of music will be considered.
Pubs and Informal Activity
From a rural perspective, Hardy’s novel Under the Greenwood Tree depicts theinformal soundscape created by local musicians, and these fictional images are backed
up by newspaper reports.987 Whilst the manuscripts and their content do not shedlight on direct involvement within pubs, informal activity is implied by association
through the repertoire and by the demographic of the people who feature withinthese environments. Furthermore, the realisation that a specific participatory function
is not necessarily expected by the musicians’ audience opens up a role for themusicians as informal entertainers for their own and an audiences’ auditory pleasure.
This can occur on several levels: personal and private in a domestic situation; informal
in a social, perhaps in a ‘tune-up’,988 in a pub setting; or on more formal level and isdiscussed in the ‘Aesthetic’ section below.
A semi-rural account of an informal soundscape can be seen here, taken from
Hampton’s local newspaper in 1860, but referring to a commotion in the small town ofMonmouth. It tells of the trial between a local blind fiddler, John Watkins, and Rev.
Thomas Harris. Watkins was fiddling at five o’clock in the morning when an angry vicar
rushed out of his house and assaulted him. He took hold of the bow, broke it andpromptly discarded it. In his defence, the vicar explained: “I went to him and I broke
his bow intentionally; I do not like to hear music in the night, nor every sort of music in
the daytime”.989

987

See the reference to Julian Taylor’s work below.
A tune-up is an English equivalent to the Irish music ‘session’, whereby musicians will sit in a pub andtake turns starting a tune generally to which others can join in.
989'A Dispute About a Fiddle', Hereford Times, 28 January 1860,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 6 June 2016] p. 9.
988

247

Informal music making also occurred off the street, in the public house both in ruraland urban areas: it was a location for hornpipes to be heard accompanying stepdancing on a Saturday night;990 “a centre for convivial singing”, justifying the inclusionof both older and contemporary popular songs in all three manuscripts; so too “it wasalso the haunt of convivial instrumentalists”.991 Roud quotes a colourful narrative from
Edwin Waugh’s Lancashire Sketches, dated 1855, in which instrumental musicians areplaying in a pub, albeit in an accompaniment role:
In another corner you might hear the fiddler playing the animated strains of the‘Liverpool Hornpipe’ or ‘Th’ Devil Ript his Shirt’, while a lot of hearty
youngsters, in wooden clogs, battered the hearthstone to the tune. In the room
above, the lights flared in the wind, as the lads and lasses flitted to and fro in‘The Haymaker’, ‘Sir Roger De Coverley’, or ‘The Triumph’, or threaded througha reel and set till the whole house shook. 992
So too, Russell has evidence of a tune-up tradition in Suffolk: “local singers andinstrumentalists gathered in the taproom of a set hostelry and entertained each other,anyone refusing or unable to contribute being forced to buy drinks”.993 He describes
the class of those participating as similar to Hampton and Till/Clutterbuck whilst “the‘respectable’ classes kept at safe distance in the parlour or saloon bar”.994 Scan
Tester’s recollections make mention of much music on a Saturday night in the pub, anda line-up in which the compilers would fit well. Although several decades after theperiod in question,995 the vivid description defines an environment which, apart fromthe piano could perhaps have existed earlier:
You know, we used to play regular in the Nutley Inn…sometimes we had old
Dido’s brother, who used to blow a cornet, and there used to be a chap comeup there and used to vamp on the old piano…There used to be Jack Carr; heused to vamp and play mandolin. He was a good bloke, he’d played in a string
band in the Army; and then we used to have old Tommy’s sister used to play aconcertina as well, and I used to play the old fiddle, and another bloke, name ofBill Gorringe, used to play the fiddle along with me. And old Tommy
990

Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215'; Holderness, 'Hindringham.
Traditional Music and Dancing in This North Norfolk Village. Mt285'; Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th
Century Southern England'.
991
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 56.
992
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 324; Edwin Waugh, Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities,(London: Whittaker, 1855 and 1857).
993
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 183.
994
Ibid.
995
The extract is of Scan’s memoirs. He was born 1887 and mention of an ‘old’ piano and women in thest
pub coupled with Hall’s dating suggest this memoir dates from just before the 1 World War.

248

Stephenson’s father used to play a tambourine, and his tambourine was as far
across as …two foot, I expect, and he used to rosin her up and he used torrrrrrrrrhhh! Yes!996
Taylor’s collection of newspaper extracts provides evidence of numerous informal
fiddle and dance events. These give an insight into informal pub culture, via incidental
reports; for example, the suicide of Robert Clough, a fiddler who played at ‘The Boat’
public-house two nights a week.997 Chandler’s study of nineteenth-century musiciansalso indicates a vibrant informal rural pub music culture,998 as does Hall’s research.999
Researching newspapers local to Hampton, uncovered an article depicting informal
music and dancing events at pubs, once again in an unrelated section. See Figure
106,1000 in which the report focusses on the crime of selling beer after time and theft,
but paints a wonderful picture of informal step-dancing and fiddle-playing at a pub.

Figure 106 : ‘Selling Beer At Illegal Times’, from Hereford Journal, 1852. Source: © THE BRITISH
LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

996

Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 34.
Taylor, 'Music of North West England'.
998
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'. See for example part 3 (MT066) describing
Potter playing in pubs and the coroner’s report.
999
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215'.
1000'Shire Hall : Selling Beer at Illegal Times', Hereford Times, 22 May 1852,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 May 2015] p. 7. A transcription is provided
in Appendix F.
997

249

The report suggests the local pub environment had spontaneous and informal music,
corroborated by personal oral narrative. It appears that a pub tradition existed where
if you could play or sing without making a piglet squeal, you won the piglet – “animportant member of the family”, 1001 and a vital commodity in those days. According
to family narrative, Thomas was in a Hereford pub, (see Figure 107),1002 competing forthe piglet which he duly won. In the process of the competition he had evidently
consumed a fair bit of ale and on his way home, with pig and fiddle under his arm, hestumbled over and broke the fiddle. Whether he managed to hang on to the pig is notknown!1003

Figure 107 : The Red Lion, Victoria Street, Hereford. Source: www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk.

The tradition of the free and easy, which Russell likens to the urban equivalent of atune-up,1004 indicates an urban, informal participatory environment where, according

1001

Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 24. Thompson states that in the 1880s a piglet was worth tenfifteen shillings suggesting this was a worthy prize to win as when fattened up and slaughtered was used
to pay off debts and feed the family with the luxury of fresh meat and then “bacon for the winter or
longer”.
1002
The image in Figure 107 is of The Red Lion Inn, Victoria Street, Hereford, the street in which Thomas
lived in 1871, thus making it a potential location for the scene of the Pig Squealing competition.
Herefordshire History, 'The Red Lion, Victoria Street, Hereford', Herefordshire Council (No date) <http://www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk/archive/herefordshire-images/hereford-images/160481 >[accessed 2 June 2015].
1003
In trying to ascertain some foundation to this story I searched for mention of a similar practice(presumably most occurrences were not worthy of mention as the activities occurred as a lower-classpursuit in a public house). However, I found a late-nineteenth-century newspaper report of a similar
event whereby the game was to sing and prevent the pig squirming or moving rather than squealing :'A'Pig-Carrying' Competition', Edinburgh Evening News, 18 July 1896,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 April 2017] p. 6.
1004
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 183.

250

to Scott, “any customer could contribute a song”.1005 However, though clearly popularwith working classes, in reality they do not appear to have been participatory or
entirely spontaneous and are perhaps exclusively the domain of singers rather thaninstrumentalists. Figure 108, shows an 1851 newspaper report revealing that thesinger was paid a penny for every pint bought by the audience.1006

Figure 108 : ‘The Remuneration of a Vocalist’, from Dublin Evening Mail, 1852. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Scott describes the back rooms of pubs which were used for the Free and Easies,
gradually becoming concert rooms and singing saloons in the 1840s, employing
professional entertainers.1007
Aesthetic
The idea of music in the manuscripts existing for aesthetic value alone was introduced
above in the discussion of hornpipes. Similarly, the evidence of pub ‘tune-ups’ and thesuggestion that pubs were the “haunt of convivial instrumentalists”,1008 supports theidea that tunes, be they hornpipes, marches, quicksteps, polkas, waltzes andvarsoviana were being played for aesthetic reasons aside from requiring a dance
function. This idea was set out by Gammon,1009 yet is curiously refuted by Campbell
who makes an unsubstantiated statement that “the playing of such music solely for

1005

Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 19.
1006'The Remuneration of a Vocalist', Dublin Evening Mail, 18 August 1852,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 17 June 2016] p. 3.
1007
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 19.
1008
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 56.
1009
Ibid. p. 55.

251

listening is a recent phenomenon and very much a revivalist practice growing in
popularity from the 1960s onwards”.1010
Admittedly, the references to informal musical practices in the pub are dominated by asinging culture. Those which do mention instrumentalists often do so in the context ofaccompanying dancing – either informal social dances or stepping. As such it is hard toascertain whether a truly autotelic instrumental musical practice took place in theseenvironments, in a similar way that an exclusively tune session might occur today. It is
entirely possible that tunes were played during song sessions, independently fromaccompanying dancers and merely not documented, and it is noteworthy that all threemanuscripts include a few examples of vocal items.
Evidence of Soobroy playing with his ‘string band’ at a gymnastics display in 1891
indicates the music may have had a role in providing entertainment (see Figure109).1011 The article suggests the music was listened to for its aesthetic value although
not as formal concert, but as incidental music, presumably on a non-commercial,
voluntary basis accompanying the sporting event. Although the specific repertoire is
not provided the string band performed an overture for each half of the evening, theNational Anthem at the close and possibly some background music during the display,suggested by the ‘Musical Maze’ event included in the programme. It is fascinating tofind Soobroy mentioned in a newspaper article and opens the possibility of forty-sevenyear old Hampton being a member of this band, five years before his death.

1010

Campbell, 'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British
Manuscript Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 148.
1011
'Gymnastic Display', Ross Gazette, 16 April 1891, <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> p.
4. A transcription of the first section is provided in Appendix F.

252

Figure 109 : Soobroy's String Band, from Ross Gazette, 1891. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED.

An aesthetic (combined with a partially commercial or auto-didactic) function exists
towards the formal end of musical entertainment in the form of concerts. As such, themusic may be expected to raise funds, educate or improve, but on the whole the music
would be fulfilling an ‘entertainment’ function and thus to a certain extent, existing as
music in its own right. It is incredibly hard to ascertain the extent of involvement of theamateur, lower-class instrumentalists in these performance spaces. However,newspaper articles hint at some involvement and so it is worth pursuing.
Mechanics’ Institutes and Penny Concerts
Mechanics’ Institutes and Working Men’s Clubs have a fourfold involvement in thisthesis. Not only are they relevant as a potential participatory platform for thecompilers, they provided a source of influence and motivation as part of the cultural
backdrop, introduced in Chapter 4. Additionally, they were a gateway to acquiring the253

necessary skills to participate in music and manuscript compilation, and a location
where printed resources might be borrowed.1012
Performers were sometimes musicians from the Institutes’ own members,1013 yetmajor celebrities also performed. In 1857 at the Brighton Mechanics’ Institute nationalcelebrity singer Sims Reeve and his wife, Emma were the chief performers, alongsideother professionals. Admission was free to members and members’ friends, and an
audience of 1400 attended.1014 The repertoire featured both vocal and instrumental
items, played on instruments largely mirrored in the manuscripts namely, concertina,
cornet-a-piston, violin and flute, which according to other newspaper reports appears
to be standard for these events.1015 Furthermore, the manuscripts’ repertoire isreflected too, with many programmes actually listing specific tunes from themanuscripts. Whilst this might suggest a direct source of influence for the men who
compiled the manuscripts, this could merely be a reflection of mass taste andrepertoire which could also be heard in London concerts, the Music Hall, pub concerts
and amateur bands and orchestras.
In the same vein, Penny Concerts,1016 affordable as their names suggest occurred inboth larger and smaller towns. A search on BNA shows a clear rise in their popularity
between 1850-99,1017 with the start of popularity in the 1860s but continuing at asimilarly high level to the end of the century. Figure 110, describes a Penny Concert
from 1865, in Leamington Spa.1018 It clearly highlights the target audience as the lower
classes, those who do not have means to get to London concerts despite ‘excursion
trains’.

1012

This is discussed in Chapter 6.
'Titchfield Literary and Mechanics' Institute', Hampshire Telegraph, 1 January 1859,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 4 June 2016] p. 5.
1014'Mechanics' Institute Concert', Brighton Gazette, 8 October 1857,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 4 June 2016] p. 7.
1015
References are numerous, but as an example see ibid.
1016
In some articles this term is interchangeable with the term ‘Penny Readings’.
1017
250000 search results exist between 1850-99: The British Newspaper Archive, 'Search Results :Penny Concerts', British Library (2017) <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
1018'Penny Concerts', Leamington Spa Courier, 18 November 1865,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 4 October 2015]. Leamington Spa Courier 18
November 1865, p8. A transcription is provided in Appendix F.
1013

254

Figure 110 : ‘Penny Concerts’ from Leamington Spa Courier, 1865. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.

The programme shows that whilst not able to bring in the celebrities from London,
there were plenty of performers, playing a variety of instrumental dances and tunes
and vocal numbers reflecting a similar repertoire to that found in the manuscripts. This
1860s report (Figure 111) suggests that performers were drawn from the local
community,1019 and once again highlights the main audience focus as the working
class, implying potential involvement by or influence on the case-study compilers if notas performers then as audience members.

Figure 111 : ‘Saturday Penny Concerts’ from Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 1860. Source: © THE
BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

1019'Saturday Penny Concerts. To the Editor of the Advertiser', Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge
Advertiser, 17 November 1860, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 7 March 2016]
p. 4. A transcription is given in Appendix F.

255

However, newspaper reports would suggest that participation by the lowest social
levels was not the norm, and that concerts were instead intended as a venue for themto attend as an audience, largely organised and performed by the middle classes.1020
No conclusive details emerge of the compilers’ direct involvement at the more formal
end of the scale. However, the marginalia in Bennett’s manuscript detailed above(Figure 98), may hint at some involvement in more formal events and it is possible that
Till/Clutterbuck was involved in Penny Concerts through a potential association withMr Moffatt. Andrew Marvel Moffatt (c1831-1898), composer of Til.23.1, is referred tofrequently in local newspaper articles throughout the latter half of the century withreference to the Penny Readings and Choral meetings in Berkeley, He can be identified
as the blind organist of St Mary’s Church, Berkeley, 1868 – 1898.1021 He was born inYork to Nathaniel and Eliza Moffatt and was living in Berkeley, listed as blind aged
twenty in 1851.1022 In 1861 he is listed as an organist, still living at home inBerkeley,1023 and by 1881 aged forty-nine, he is head of the household, living with twosisters and a servant.1024 His burial is recorded on the 28th January 1898, aged sixtysix.1025 He was evidently a respected organist, seen playing here (Figure 112),1026 for1020

Mackerness describes concerts for the working classes taking place at such institutions from 1830s
onwards. Arguably the paternalistic intervention in cultural improvement could be viewed ashegemonic. However, this was likely unproblematic to the lower classes who were keen to participate in
the autodidactic movement regardless of the origins. Rose quotes ticket prices of 4d at the Manchester
Working Men’s Concerts (attracting an average audience of 3400), and Rowlands quotes prices at some
Mechanics’ Institutes as free for members and 3d or 6d for non-members. Results for Mechanics’
Institute concerts exist extensively within BNA and frequently show free entry, for example: “free to as
many of the working classes that the room would hold”. The potential accessibility of the lower classes
to these events is interesting as it highlights a source of audible influence to inward transmission for thecompilers. Having heard a song or melody as part of the audience, the compilers could subsequently
seek out the tune in cheap print to copy into their books to learn. Thus, whilst the direct inwards
transmission is via copying, initially the source could have been transmitted aurally. Mackerness, A
Social History of English Music, pp. 148-49. Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, p.
198; David Rowlands, 'Widening Access to Art Music: Creating New Audiences in Victorian Britain',(Cardiff University: Conference Paper given at BAVS conference: Consuming (the) Victorians, August2016); 'Mechanics' Institute', Shepton Mallet Journal, 31 January 1862,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 6 June 2016].
1021
Clan Moffatt Genealogy, 'Andrew Marvel Moffatt', Clan Moffatt Society Website (2017)<http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org/getperson.php?personID=I1098&tree=UKEire> [accessed 5 January2017].
1022'Andrew M Moffatt', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 1957; Folio: 439; Page: 15;
GSU roll: 87357), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 28 January].
1023'Andrew M Maffatt [Sic]', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 1749; Folio: 13; Page: 20;
GSU roll: 542862), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 20 January].
1024'Andrew Marvel Moffatt', 1881 England Census Return (Class: RG11; Piece: 2517; Folio: 6; Page: 6;
GSU roll: 1341607), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 28 January 2016].
1025'Andrew Marvel Moffatt', Burial Record for Andrew Marvel Moffatt, 28 January 1897
(Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, England; P42 in 1/41) <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 27 January2016].

256

the organist for Gloucester Cathedral in 1891 (note the reference to Till/Clutterbuck’s
village of Stone):

Figure 112 : ‘Berkeley’ from Gloucester Citizen, 1891. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED.

An excerpt (Figure 113), from The Gloucester Journal November 13th, 1869,1027 lists
Moffatt playing a solo on the pianoforte and the town band playing an overture at the
Penny Readings.

Figure 113 : ‘Berkeley’ from Gloucester Journal, 1869. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED.

There are numerous instances in the papers which show Mr Moffatt playing andsinging solo and with ‘his party’, at both religious and secular events. His presence as amusician in the town was clearly well known. Another excerpt describes how theanonymous members of the band “also kindly gave their assistance as usual”, which,1026'Berkeley - Choral Festival', Gloucester Citizen, 2 October 1891,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 January 2016] p. 4.
1027'Berkeley - Penny Readings', Gloucester Journal 13 November 1869,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/> [accessed 27 January 2016] p. 8. Mr R Moffatt in theexcerpt above is likely Robert Moffatt, his brother then aged 28. See 'Andrew M Moffatt', 1851 England
Census Return.

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given Moffatt and Till/Clutterbuck’s potential association could have included
Till/Clutterbuck as an unnamed participant of such band.1028

Motivation to play music
The majority of the participatory environments listed above suggest that themanuscripts were used for, or rather that the musical practice they represent took theform of, social or personal entertainment, which appears to exist largely on an
informal basis. The possibility of involvement in the more formal concerts existed,although the participation of the working classes was more as an audience member
rather than performer. It is possible that the musicians could have received money forsome of the events, for example if they were to play in a dance band, and theadvantage of any extra money is obvious. However, apart from the fiddler in thebooths,1029 and the established quadrille dance bands,1030 many of the situations open
to the compilers do not seem to suggest a formal monetary payment. It is possiblethat work was compensated by “fiddlers’ payment”,1031 in the form of beer and food.
Looking beyond financial gain, it can be seen that whether a member of a dance band,
volunteer militia or village band there were also social incentives. Alongside a mutualand community respect for having a musical skill, belonging to a band would bring themusicians into contact with likeminded men from different social classes. Farmers andshop-keepers would meet on an equal skill level with labourers. For the lower-classmusicians this provided possibilities to network, better their circumstances andimprove social standing and emulation. Furthermore, being a member of a groupprovided a level of support and inclusivity. The additional skill of musical literacy could
have elevated a compiler’s status in comparison to his ear-playing companions,

1028'Berkeley - Penny Readings', Gloucester Journal, 9 December 1865,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 2 January 2016].
1029
Booth fiddlers could earn £10 16s 4d in a festival week as opposed to an agricultural labourer’s
weekly wage of 12s. Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'. MT064. See Chapter 6 formore discussion regarding wages and economics.
1030
We can tell they were paid, rather than offering their services voluntarily as Skinner urges ballorganisers that “if you want to have a thoroughly successful dance, get good music, and don’t grudge to‘pay the piper’”. James Scott Skinner, The People's Ball Room Guide (Dundee and London: Leng & Co.,1905)
<http://www.abdn.ac.uk/scottskinner/collectiondisplay.php?Record_Type=PBG&pageNum_collection=4
4> [Accessed 4 October 2016].
1031
Marsh, Music and Society in Early Modern England, p. 153.

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although evidence suggests a strong sense of modesty existed.1032 Aside from thesocial benefits of a band context, self-expression and pride in one’s abilities result inraising esteem. In times of hardship the escapism and pleasure found by these men inlocal, home-made, low-cost entertainment in the pub or at home was likely a welcome
distraction.

Outward Transmission in Notions of Folk Music Tradition
This section considers how compatible outward transmission is with notions of folk
music tradition from the dual perspective of the function of the musicians and themanuscripts.
Function of the Musicians
In the introduction to the chapter, I outlined the defining parameters of performance
which would be encompassed within folk music tradition, namely “informal, untrained,
face-to-face, voluntary, [and in] non-commercial situations”.1033 If participation did
occur in the Penny Concerts and Mechanic’s Institutes then the function moves
towards a more formal (and possibly commercial), end of the performance scale, thus
the association becomes more questionable. The environment would suggest that theperformer/audience relationship is more passive in nature and not one in which anorganic process could easily take place as “the stage imposes a distance between theperformer and the audience”.1034 Karpeles suggests a fundamental characteristic offolk song is that “it exists for itself and not for some ulterior motive, such as to impress
an audience”.1035 Atkinson, relating back to the performance of John England’s song,collected and harmonised by Sharp and performed the same evening, with piano
accompaniment in “evening dress”, to a middle-class Edwardian audience,1036 draws
attention to the presentation of folk songs “through alien modes of performance”,
questioning how “such a different kind of performance could really be perceived as an
expression of engagement with their singers in the past”.1037 Roud develops theperformer/audience interaction further and denotes how a performance in which aman dresses up, gestures and acts a part,
1032

Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 80.
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 24.
1034
Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World, p. 126.
1035
Karpeles, An Introduction to English Folk Song, p. 19.
1036
Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 159.
1037
Ibid. p. 151.
1033

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marks a key point in the transition from the free-and-easy convivial sing-song
to the professional concert, and a growing separation between performer andaudience. In one respect, this is the point where the event definitely leaves the‘folk’ culture and moves into ‘popular’culture.1038
Participation at Mechanic’s Institutes, Penny Concerts and the more formal functions
may have been voluntary and to a certain degree non-commercial, but they wereneither informal nor untrained, presumably with the motive to impress or entertain
and audience. As such, this potentially amateur concert platform could be seen to
move the outward transmission into a more formalised and genteel transaction
between audience and performer, consequently “dressing up”,1039 the repertoire anddistancing the manuscripts’ musical practice from notions of folk music tradition.
However, contemporary reports and the compilers’ repertoire would suggest thatparticipation at these events is less obvious or less prolific than events which lie at themore informal end of the performance scale. The sort of repertoire within the
manuscripts, combined with the wider contextual evidence would suggest that theoutward transmission from the manuscripts centred on playing for social dances andstep-dancing, playing for community events, informal playing in the pub and for
personal recreation. These events sit relatively well within the defining parameters of
performance platforms listed above, encompassed within folk music tradition andallowing the process of tradition to occur.
Function of the Manuscripts
The contextual function of the manuscripts or perhaps that of the compilers has beenassessed with regards to potential participatory musical activities. However, the directrole or function of the manuscripts as a physical artefact in outward transmission adds
an interesting dimension to the discussion. Scant evidence exists of manuscripts or
tunebooks in use during performance. Two images were shown earlier in the chapter
in the Webster and Condy paintings. Thompson’s comment that some of the songs
sung in the ‘Wagon and Horses’ were “culled from the penny song-book they most ofthem carried”,1040 if taken literally could suggest textual use during outward
transmission. However, much of the evidence excludes the mention of manuscripts,

1038

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 352.
Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 151. Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 352.
1040
Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 69.
1039

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printed music or musically literate musicians. The aphorism, ‘absence of evidence is
not evidence of absence’ comes to mind,1041 and yet this general lack of pictorial andwritten evidence is fascinating and raises many questions.
Were most musicians who participated in the activities playing from memory, thus
singling out the compilers as something quite special if they did use the manuscripts at
the point of performance? Alternatively, are their written sources (either manuscriptor printed) so bountiful that the mention of them is not necessary? Was a deliberate
decision generally taken not to show the sheet music or manuscripts in photographs or
paintings, even if needed or used by the musicians? This would signify that paintingsand photographs were staged and not a true representation of fact, thus greatly
reducing their value as historic primary sources. Perhaps the lack of evidence could beinterpreted as a strong indication that the manuscripts were not used at the point of
performance, and thus evidence of the interaction between oral/aural and literate
mediums?
The interaction between aurality/orality and textual cultures was introduced in
Chapter 4 with regards to inward transmission. So too, when addressing outward
transmission, it is important not to make assumptions regarding the compilers’reliance on the textual nature of the manuscripts. It is impossible to tell how themanuscripts were employed in the act of performance. It is easy to assume, and asmall number of literary and iconographic examples may indicate, that the manuscripts
were used as reference copies at the point of outward transmission. If this was thecase, this may remove the musical practice further from characteristics associated withfolk music tradition. For example, in the view of received history, the textual nature ofeither print of manuscript would be an obvious contradiction to the concept oforality/aurality, a strong defining factor in inherited terms, set out and discussed in
Chapter 1. Although textual influence in the transmission of folk music is accepted inmodern scholarly thought,1042 little explicit discussion can be found regarding the useof a physical manuscript as an artefact. However, Roud and Atkinson’s discussion
regarding the formalising of a folk song in performance, cited above, could be1041

I was reminded of this saying in an email conversation with Dr Vic Gammon in relation to oral andliterate interaction. Gammon, Email.
1042
See discussion in Chapter 1 and Chapter 4.

261

interpreted to suggest that using a textual source at point of performance will result informalising a performance and stabilising a tune. This can create a perception that acorrect or incorrect way of performance exists and that the written text is correct andneeds to be adhered to. Consequently, a formality overtakes an informal, untrained
environment.1043 So too, it could be argued that the organic path of its transmission
will be altered, which is a key component to the concept behind a process of tradition.
Ultimately, we have no idea whether or not the compilers were using theirmanuscripts when they played the tunes. Just as amateur musicians in an informal
setting of a pub session today might use printed, handwritten or electronic sources ofmusic in order to learn or remember their repertoire, they do not always use thesesources during outward transmission. In fact, in English folk music performance today,in both informal sessions and more formalised gigs, I have experienced a perceptible
yet unwritten rule suggesting that requiring textual or digital copies of the tunes issomehow inferior. Reasons for this cultural and social attitude could make the subjectof a separate thesis, yet it is important to consider that an inverse perception could
have existed amongst the nineteenth-century amateur musicians. The attitude could
even have resulted from an extension of an existing practice dominated by ‘ear’
players and the musically literate musicians not wishing to appear as ‘scholards’.1044 As
shown in Chapter 4, the failure to sign marriage certificates did not imply illiteracy, anddespite having acquired the skill of musical literacy, doubtless a tool of social
emulation, it might be considered as boastful to sit in a performance ‘reading’ thetunes.
Transposing the aforementioned adage to the ‘existence of evidence is not evidence ofexistence’ and applying it to outward transmission would suggest that the existence ofthe manuscripts does not provide decisive evidence to indicate that the compilers used
the manuscripts as part of their performance practice. Thus, despite appearing to bereliant on a direct literate medium, the compilers could have been participating in themusical practice aurally, and the outward transmission may have had no directreference to, or reliance on, the manuscripts in performance. This potential lack of
1043

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 23.
Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, p. 192. This would be in line with the possible reason given for
the absence of signatures on marriage certificates from musically literate compilers, discussed in
Chapter 4.
1044

262

reliance on textual sources would align the musical practice more closely with thatexperienced in folk music tradition both in the received sense and in modern scholarly
thought.
Instead, the manuscripts’ role could have been as a storehouse of their repertoire,
providing a list of tunes and a back-up of their melody to use as an aide-memoire orpractice copy.1045 This would account for the list found by Gammon in Turner MS,1046
Burstow’s repertoire list,1047 and incipits found in the Gairdyn MS,1048 discussed in
Chapter 4. Fox is writing about the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries when hewarns that, “any crude binary opposition between ‘oral’ and ‘literate’ culture fails toaccommodate the reciprocity between the different media by this time”.1049 His words
are equally relevant when observing this vernacular amateur musical culture in boththe nineteenth-century and today. I myself have a large amount of repertoire material.
It exists as unruly piles of fully transcribed tunes in the form of photocopied tunes,
printed tune books and handwritten manuscript tunes, alongside scribbled tune lists,
neatly printed set-lists, incipits and short-hand notation. I rarely require them in
performance (whether informal or formal), and use them when planning a set, as acatalogue list of my repertoire, or to fall back on, to remind me of the beginning of atune.
Therefore, although the presence of a manuscript during performance could move themusical practice away from folk music tradition due to its formality implying less of anorganic process and more of a structured ‘correct’ performance, it must be
remembered that simply because the manuscripts existed, does not mean they wereused at the point of outward transmission.

Conclusion
This chapter has shown that the outward transmission and participatory environment
open to the compilers had potentially both utilitarian and aesthetic functions,encompassing the accompaniment of social and exhibition dances informally and
1045

Chapter 4 drew attention to the function of the Copper’s family song book as “a determined effort
to ensure [the songs] would be remembered”. Copper, A Song for Every Season, p. 2.
1046
Gammon, 'Michael Turner. A 19th Century Sussex Fiddler (Mt068)'.
1047
Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, p. 6.
1048
MacPherson, 'The Music of the English Country Dance', p. 108.
1049
Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England 1500-1700, p. 6.

263

possibly formally, alongside playing the repertoire for personal pleasure or informal
recreation in a pub. A place in community events such as village fairs, processions andclub days was also suggested. Activities which fulfil informal, personal and social needson an amateur level are characteristics recognised in notions of folk music tradition.
However, the repertoire also showed influence of the widespread formalised ‘concert’culture, as part of the autodidactic movement. Such events created more distance
between the audience and performer, and their more formal nature may push themusical practice towards the outside boundaries of folk music tradition. That said, it
was arguable whether the demographic represented by the compilers would havebeen involved in performance at these events. However, these concerts in conjunction
with personal and pub playing developed the idea of performing music for its aesthetic
value alone.
Outward transmission from the physical manuscripts was then considered. Whilst
some evidence of the use of written music during performance existed, which could beseen as contrary to the notions of folk music tradition, the idea was put forward that it
was unsafe to make over-simplistic assumptions as to its generalised use. Gammon
articulates this point more eloquently:
The past is [also] unattainable; it is gone, vanished. To investigate it issimultaneously a necessity and in some ways an impossibility. We bring to its
investigation our assumptions, prejudices and half-baked ideas…The past will
always be a problem to the present, an ultimately insoluble but fascinatingproblem…we cannot fully reconstruct, let alone inhabit, their cultural
knowledge…Awareness of the limits of historical understanding and inquiry
should be a humbling experience that makes us both reflective (we need to beaware of what we are doing) and modest in our claims.1050
Just because the manuscripts existed does not mean they were used in performanceand as such, it remains inconclusive as to whether the compilers were reliant on theirmanuscripts at the point of outward transmission. Importantly, this chapter has
corroborated the idea which emerged in Chapter 4, showing that the interaction
between orality/aurality and literacy should be acknowledged, and the two aspects
should not be seen as mutually exclusive or polarised.

1050

Gammon, Desire, Drink and Death in English Folk and Vernacular Song, 1600-1900, pp. 4-5.

264

Chapter 6 –Acquiring Resources and Skill
As is often the nature with historical exploration, the sources raise as many questions
as they answer. The revelation in Chapter 2, that the people most closely associatedwith the manuscripts were ‘ordinary’, from the lower occupational classes, moreover
predominantly from rural environments raises some vitally important questions.
Essentially these questions concern the dichotomy between living a modest existence
within remote, rural communities and having enough funds and transport to accessprinted sources (revealed to have been of vital importance to the compilers), andsecondly, the literate and technical music ability and acquisition of this level of society.
The chapter is divided into two sections, part 1 considers how the men from lower
occupational groups afforded and accessed printed music and part 2 investigates levels
and acquisition of both general and musical literacy.

Part 1 - Acquiring Resources
Part 1 addresses the financial and logistical aspect examining the manuscripts,
biographical research and wider literature for evidence. I then consider the
remoteness of the rural compilers and all three compilers’ access to printed musicalsources. When both elements of cost and accessibility are combined, I conclude thatthe men were borrowing their sources and a potential location is explored.
Poverty or Prosperity?
The harsh existence which resulted from the shift from an overall rural way of life
towards a heavily industrialised, urban country throughout the nineteenth-century isapparent in wider literature. Awareness of the multitude of problems faced by theurban poor is not new in current historiography and was topical at the time. Many
writers argue that the rural life it replaced was not the pastoral romantic idyll that it
was painted to be – even nostalgic sentimental Victorians themselves describe themisery and hard times of the rural poor during the early and middle years of the
century. Heath, writing in 1874 describes the desolation found in both urban and rural
quarters:
It is terrible to witness want and misery in the foul slums of a great city; but it isassuredly much more terrible to find it in rose-bound cottages - embosomed in265the most charming of country nooks, where the very richness of nature seems
to rebuke the meanness of man.1051
Therefore, both urban Hampton and rural Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck can beconsidered within the same context. However, this image of hardship is set against a
backdrop of a vibrant and rich culture of entertainment for many. It is well
documented that by the end of the century, leisure time increased for working-class
Victorians with the introduction of a Saturday half-day and a reduction in working
hours,1052 affording the working classes time for day trips and excursions, which brings
the question back to disposable income. The extent of financial hardship experienced
by working-class men during the nineteenth-century appears to be controversial inwider literature and needs further exploration. Word-count prevents inclusion of mycomprehensive survey of nineteenth-century working-class earnings and so my wider
research is in Appendix H, allowing for more specific discussion relating to themanuscripts and musicological issues, but the conclusion drawn is that money was
scarce for the lower classes and for many, disposable income a luxury.
The rural compilers reacted to poverty in individual ways. Till/Clutterbuck relied onshared housing with relatives in his later years,1053 and despite Bennett’s supposed
higher status as a skilled worker he emigrated for health and economic reasons.1054
Their modest existence alone is an explanation why the working-classes compiled
manuscripts, favouring long hours of copying over purchasing print. More specificevidence of economic austerity can be seen in Hampton MS, which is homemade. The
front cover turn-ins are imprecise, lacking in uniformity and untidily sewn together(Figure 114).1055

1051

F. G. Heath The English Peasantry, (1874) p. 10. Quoted by Gammon in: Vic Gammon, 'Introduction',in A Small Account of My Tracels through the Wilderness James Nye, ed. by Vic Gammon (Brighton:
QueenSpark Books, 1860-1888), pp. 6-7 (p. 6).
1052
Altick, The English Common Reader, p. 88.
1053'George Clutterbuck', 1901 England Census Return.
1054
We know from the personal narrative that Bennett suffered poverty “when hard times came toSomerset”, quoted in full in Chapter 2: Bennett, 'Family History of George Wilkins Bennett and Daughter
Helena Mary Bennett Posted by Grc08 2014 Written 1982'.
1055
Whilst the rough, untidy nature is not indicative of economic austerity, these attributes are given as
evidence of handmade characteristics as opposed to those expected in a professional, purchased
manuscript book.

266

Figure 114 : Stitching in Hampton MS.

The pages are also stitched together in a rudimentary way implying the blank music
sheets were purchased and turned into a book at home. When magnified theunbleached paper shows small fibres and no watermarks are visible indicating cheaper,
lower grade, mass produced paper. The layout of tunes also indicates a lack ofdisposable income. Unlike Soobroy, whose writing is larger and who uses a whole
stave for the title, Hampton preserves space, squeezing tunes into as few lines as
possible and writing the titles in between the staves. Occasional spare staves exist at
the foot of pages but apart from the final page (where he writes a title on a stave), no
stave is left empty between tunes, indicative that manuscript paper was a valued
commodity to Hampton.
Rural Accessibility
It has been shown that London, provincial cities and larger towns enjoyed a vibrantmusical culture with London especially forming a central hub for the production of
printed sources. The content of the printed sources was reaching both the rural andurban compilers as the repertoire has been found as consistent. However, Russell
states that, “most communities of over 10,000 had at least one music-seller andinstrument dealer”,1056 which is borne out by the evidence in the compilers’ locale.
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett’s immediate communities of Stone and Chedzoy had apopulation of less than 500,1057 and Berkeley, Till/Clutterbuck’s market town, less than
5000, none listing a specific music shop in their trade directories.1058 Roud sees adivision between rural and urban musicians, stating that:

1056

Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 179.
The population sizes of Stone and Chedzoy were c300 and c500 respectively, see Chapter 2.
1058
The population of Berkeley in 1841 was 4405, 'Berkeley', Slater's Directory of Berks, Corn, Devon ...,
1852-53 (1852-53), (p. 403) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017]. In 1856 it is4344, 'Berkeley', Post Office Directory of Gloucestershire, Bath & Bristol, (1856),
1057

267

…access to musical forms (and therefore taste) could be broadly different
between the two groups. It is only with the development of recorded andbroadcast sound that access to music in rural and urban areas could start toeven out.1059
But this has not been borne out in my research. Bearman highlights a disadvantage,
believing poorer rural people to be isolated, unable to afford transport and therefore
only able to travel as far as they could walk:
It is mistaken to assume that because railways, or canals, or stage coaches, areavailable, everyone has equal access to them…Apart from the railways – if you
could afford them – and the carrier’s cart, there was no public transport in rural
Somerset even in the early 1900s. Remoteness, to most people, meant thateveryday journeys were limited to the distance they could walk.1060
Whilst this may have been true for some, I argue below with direct reference to themanuscripts, and on a wider scale in Appendix I, that accepted distances to walk were
far longer than would be expected today,1061 and that there were modes of transport
affordable to the poorer people. My contextual investigation and evidence to support
this can be found in Appendix I.
The case studies do not specifically inform travel to concerts or music-shops, but they
do hint at access outside their environs. Bennett presumably travelled the seven-mileround trip from Chedzoy to local market town of Bridgwater fairly regularly to where
his fiancée, Mary Hook was reputed to have worked.1062 Here he would have hadaccess to more musicians and wider transport networks which possibly brought in newmusic. The reference to “Dress Jackets”,1063 in the marginalia might suggest
performance at a larger town than his home village, implying capability to travel.
Evidence has been given of the Bridgwater Rifle Corps., travelling twenty miles toTaunton,1064 and contrary to Bearman’s statement, a variety of transport was available<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 July 2016].(1856 p238) and in 1861 is similar at 4316.
'Berkeley', Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops & Wales,, (1868), (p. 15)<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017].
1059
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 28.
1060
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', p. 772.
1061
For example, Scan walking ten miles each way to play at a pub. Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played toMany Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 35.
1062
Although this part of the oral narrative is in dispute as it appears Hook was a Tailor in Chedzoy. See
Chapter 2.
1063
See Ben.97.1.
1064
See Chapter 5.

268

in rural Somerset. Bridgwater, easily accessible by foot from Chedzoy is described as aport,1065 and with rail, coach, omnibus and carrier services, was well connected.1066
Till/Clutterbuck would have had access to Berkeley, a five mile round trip and the local
South Gloucestershire Militia band are shown to travel long distances to perform.1067
Berkeley was in close proximity to the navigable Severn as well as the Gloucester andBerkeley Canal. The town had a railway station with a connecting omnibus, ‘from John
Mabbett’s, to meet every train at the Berkeley road station’.1068 Therefore althoughclassed as a rural compiler, Till/Clutterbuck had access to travel if he had the financial
means.
Hampton’s urban location afforded him easier access to resources and with links to thecanal, travel between more distant towns and through rural areas would have beenpossible. Research into his manuscript also gave evidence of musicians travelling long
distances possibly on foot.1069 Chapter 5 gives three examples: The fatal incident on
Plump Hill exposed mentions Henry Allen who played for the Ruardean Morris,1070 and
who would have travelled a six-and-a-half mile round trip, taking an hour each way ifwalked; and Charles Baldwin, who played for the Clifford’s Mesne morris,1071 themorris-men dancing, drinking and playing cards at Dancing Green and on their way
home to Newent walking up May Hill, a distance of eleven miles.1072 Walter Soobroy’s
String Band performed at Ross, a distance of thirteen miles.1073 Recognising that thecompilers were more mobile than might be thought opens up their musical milieu
from both an influential and participatory perspective, providing contact with larger
towns in which to access musical resources including printed music from which to
copy.
1065

'Bridgwater', Slater's Directory of Berks, Corn, Devon ...,, (1852-53), (p. 759)
<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 28 April 2017].
1066'Bridgwater', Pigot & Co.'s Directory of Berks, Bucks ...,1844. [Part 2: Hants to Wilts, & Wales],(1844), (p. 244) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 28 April 2017].
1067
One report shows that they travelled more than twenty-six miles to perform in Tewksbury'Tewksbury Flower Show and Regatta', Worcester Journal, 7 August 1869,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 7 August 2016] p. 7.
1068'Berkeley', p. 238.
1069
This corroborates the evidence given in Appendix I.
1070
Menteith and Burgess, The Coleford Jig Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire, p. ii.
1071
Ibid.
1072
Google Maps, 'Newent - May Hill - Dancing Green, Ross-on-Wye Hr9 5tg', Google (2017)<https://www.google.co.uk/maps> [accessed 4 May 2016]. It is of course possible that walking over May
Hill was a short cut between two pick-up points of public transport and the walk was therefore shorter.
1073'Gymnastic Display'.

269

Accessing the Printed Copy
It makes sense that printed music was available in music shops, and the previous
section has established that the compilers were likely able to access the larger towns
for musical resources. However, it transpires that from c1875 music shops were
becoming increasing frustrated with publishers undercutting their prices either by
selling directly to the public (sometimes post free), or via other shops “who supply the
public direct at less than a third”.1074 Music shops began to resent the sheet music sideof their business: “Musicsellers have begun ‘to look on “paper” as a nuisance and are
giving up that branch of the trade’”.1075 Publishers were allowing sheet music andmusic books to be sold from a wide range of establishments, such as drapers, general
stores, booksellers, printers and stationers in addition to illegal hawkers on the street
selling printed music.1076 Railway Book Stalls (Figure 115) also enabled nationwide andeasy access to and dissemination of printed music,1077 and in reality, access to musicalresources was much greater than might be suggested by the number of music shops
listed in trade directories.

Figure 115 : Advert for the Railway Music Company. Photo: R Dellow. Source: BL (f.161).

Consequently, the apparent absence of a specific music shop in the rural compilers’
locality is not alarming; however, it does raise archival issues.1078 A specific music shop

1074

This can be seen in numerous newspaper advertisements, on the printed music and also Coover,Music Publishing, Copyright and Piracy in Victorian England, p. 60.
1075
Ibid. p. 23.
1076
Ibid. pp. 23, 60. Evidence of booksellers selling music can also be seen in some of the images ofprinted music shown throughout the thesis. See for example, Figure 79.
1077
Edward F. Rimbault, Chappell's Musical Magazine. No.36., (London: Chappell, 1862).
1078
Finding reference to an explicit music shop is easier and more informative than finding reference toa draper or bookseller and assuming they also sold music.

270

cannot be found in Till/Clutterbuck’s location;1079 but it is plausible that bookseller,
Povey, was Till/Clutterbuck’s music dealer, as his bookshop sells tickets for local
musical events. This newspaper excerpt is one example, relating to tickets for a Penny
Concert: “Application for tickets must be made to Mr Povey, bookseller, before theevening of the performance”.1080 Looking beyond Berkeley, the close by towns ofThornbury and Dursley are also too small to support an independent, exclusive music
seller. A possible location would be Stroud,1081 where a bookseller who also dealt inmusic, can be found listed in 1859 (Figure 116).1082

Figure 116 : Extract from Slater, 1859 ‘Stroud’. Source: University of Leicester Archives & Special Collections.

Bucknall cannot be found in the 1868 directory, although two other men are listed
under the category “Pianoforte & Music Sellers & Teachers of Music”.1083
Till/Clutterbuck’s proximity to Berkeley Castle would have brought him in contact with
up-to-date music. As a Member of Parliament with royal connections, Lord
Fitzhardinge and his wife moved in highly fashionable circles, giving the opportunity, oreven necessity for local musicians to perform the latest music perhaps sooner thancomparable towns and villages. Berkeley may have acted as a hub for its surrounding
villages disseminating musical fashion.

1079

Povey can be found in trade directories dating throughout the period of the manuscript 'Berkeley',p. 238 (1856). 'Berkeley', Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops, & Wales, (1859), (p. 10)<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 5 April 2017]. 'Berkeley', p. 16 (1868).
1080'Berkeley', Gloucester Journal, 15 December 1866, <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
1081
Population of 8798 in 1851 'Stroud', Post Office Directory of Gloucestershire, Bath & Bristol, (1856),(p. 373) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017]. Population of 9090 in 1868
'Stroud', Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops & Wales, (1868), (p. 272)
<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017].
1082'Stroud', Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops, & Wales, (1859), (p. 231)
<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 March 2017]. Musical Circulating Libraries become thefocus later in the chapter and will be introduced there.
1083'Stroud', p. 279 (1868).

271

Bennett’s access to a music seller existed in Bridgewater in 1856;1084 although little canbe uncovered other than he hosted a dental surgeon every Thursday, see Figure117.1085

Figure 117 : Advert of a Music Seller in Bridgwater from Sherborne Mercury, 1856. Source: © THE BRITISH
LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Additionally, in Bridgwater during the 1850s and 1840s, were bookseller andstationers, Flixton Dowty, 1086 and William Tiver, 1087 who have the title ‘music seller’
added in after their names.
For Hampton, the city of Hereford,1088 had specific music shops along with many otherpotential shops selling sheet music. It also had a thriving professional/semiprofessional,1089 and amateur musical environment,1090 providing Hampton with avaried musical milieu. In 1840, Pigot lists two music sellers, William Bradley andEbenezer Child.1091 An 1860 newspaper advertisement, Figure 118, details a teacher

1084

A population of 7807 in 1831, 10499 in 1841 ('Bridgwater', p. 245 (1844). growing to 11000 in 1851('Bridgwater', pp. 760 (1852-53).) and 12637 by 1881 ('Bridgwater', Kelly's Directory of Somerset, (1889),(p. 147) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/> [accessed 5 January 2017].
1085'A Card', Sherborne Mercury, 29 July 1856, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed
5 November 2016] p. 1.
1086'Bridgwater', pp. 760 (1852-83).
1087'Bridgwater', p. 245 (1844).
1088
Population of 12,108 in 1851 'Hereford', Slater's Directory of Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops, & Wales,(1859), (p. 260) <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 7 March 2017].
1089
Seen in advertisements of events at the cathedral and the festival, for example 'Topics of the Day',
Western Daily Press, 22 June 1870, <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>.
1090
Seen in the advertisements at The Shire Hall, for example 'Shire Hall Hereford under Distinguished
Patronage. A Grand Amateur Evening Concert ', Hereford Journal, 7 April 1866,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 4 April 2017] p. 5.
1091'Hereford', Pigot's Diectory of Herefordshire, (1840), (p. 14)<http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nmfa/Directories/pigot_directory_of_herefordsh
ire_1840/pdoh1840p014.html> [accessed 4 January 2017].

272

selling music and instruments in Commercial Street only a couple of minutes’ walkfrom Hampton’s 1871 home. 1092

Figure 118 : Teacher and Music Seller in Commercial Street, Hereford Times, 7 January 1860. Source: © THE
BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The 1859 trade directory lists five specific music sellers in Hereford,1093 which by 1868
had reduced to four.1094 Notably Child was still operating from 53, Broad Street
although Figure 119 shows an additional music seller called ‘Heins’, operating from
Broad Street.1095

Figure 119 : Heins Music Shop, Hereford. Source: www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk.

1092'Piano-Fortes and Harmoniums', Hereford Times, 7 January 1860,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 24 July 2016] p. 4.
1093
These are listed as Burvill, Davies, Parker, Merrick and Ebenezer Child of Broad Street. 'Hereford', p.
272 (1859).
1094
These are listed as Davies, Jakeman, Merrick and Ebenezer Child. 'Hereford', Slater's Directory of
Glos, Herefs, Mon, Shrops & Wales, (1868), (p. 330) < http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 7
December 2016].
1095
Herefordshire History, 'May Fair, Broad Street, Hereford, C.1895', Herefordshire Council (2017)<http://www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk> [accessed 24 April 2017].

273

The photograph is dated c1895, but when enlarged (Figure 120) the establishment of
the shop dates to 1830, making the omission from the mid-nineteenth-century trade
directories interesting. Further investigation reveals that Nicholas Heins,1096 bought
the music shop in 1871,1097 and is listed in a later trade directory.1098 The address given
is 53, Broad Street, suggesting that Heins took over Ebenezer Child’s Music Shop.

Figure 120 : Enlarged image of Heins Music Shop, Hereford. Source: www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk.

Heins was evidently a respected musical figure in Hereford,1099 and sold sheet music aswell as instruments.1100 Dating from the 1870s this could have been a shop where
Hampton bought his instruments, manuscript paper or possibly printed music. 1101 Also

1096

Heins was Honourable Secretary of the Hereford Choral Society, and previously a tenor soloist for
Queen Victoria. Robert Anderson, Martin Bird, and John Norris, 'Edward Elgar : Collected
Correspondence', Elgar Works (No date) <http://www.elgar.org/6ccnewGP.htm> [accessed 2017 3
March].
1097
John George Freeman, Three Men and a Bradshaw : An Original Victorian Travel Journey, (London:
Random House Books, 2015), p. 297.
1098
Rosemary Lockie, 'Hereford, Herefordshire', Littlebury's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire,(1876), <http://texts.wishful-thinking.org.uk/Littlebury1876/HerefordTrade.html> [accessed 9 Jamuary2017].
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie, © Copyright 2005
1099
Freeman, Three Men and a Bradshaw : An Original Victorian Travel Journey, pp. 296-300.
1100'Nicholas Heins & Co.', Hereford Times 27 July 1878, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>[accessed 24 April 2017] p. 9.
1101
Of further interest regarding this shop and possible connections with Hampton can be found when
the shop was owned by Ebenezer Child. Information has been found which links Child with the Baptist
Chapel most likely associated with Hampton, discussed in Part 2. Child was one of the “group of local
Baptists” who purchased land in 1836 for the new Baptist Chapel in Commercial Road (close toHampton’s house) to be built. Andronikos Excavating Grey Literature, 'Relation Extraction - Crm-Eh
Annotations Report Title 49-53 Commercial Road, Hereford: Desk-Based Assessment', Andronikos
Excavating Grey Literature (2012) <http://www.andronikos.co.uk/Anno_CRMEH.php?id=2075&view=incontext> [accessed 9 March 2017].

274noteworthy is the trade directory listing of music teacher, Mary Gore who lived at 18,
Victoria Street, a few houses away from Hampton at 3, Victoria Street.1102
It transpires then, that even the rural compilers had opportunities to access shops
selling musical resources. Chapter 4 established that ‘cheap’ music had a cover price ofbetween one shilling and eighteen pence,1103 with various discounts offered, selling at
half or a third of the cover price.1104 However, even discounted, I believe those prices
would still have been prohibitive for the compilers with little disposable income. As theanalysis in Appendix H shows, even paying six pence for a book of Chappell’s ‘Cheap
Works’ would have been excessive for Hampton and Till/Clutterbuck.
The mass production of resources required for manuscript production, such as paper
and ink pens resulted in reduced cost and widened availability. In 1861 “paper duty,
the last of the ‘taxes on knowledge’”,1105 was repealed, undoubtedly having an impact
on the increase of published sources, the cost of pedagogic tutors and manuscript
paper. An advertisement in 1855 shows music manuscript books for sale from four
pence each,1106 and nearly thirty years later their price remained the same.1107 Whilst
manuscript paper might be affordable as a luxury and a one-off purchase of a secondhand instrument achievable, the purchase of printed music, especially on a regularbasis given the popular trends in evidence in the manuscripts, would I believe be
unaffordable to a middle to lower-working-class musician.
Borrowed not Bought
The lack of survival of printed music surviving with the manuscripts coupled with the
key economic factor of the price of print indicates that the compilers were not buying
their music and then copying a personal selection from it into their manuscripts. 1108

1102

Lockie, 'Hereford, Herefordshire'.
1 shilling and 6 pence.
1104
This can be seen in some of the newspapers excepts above and noted by Scott, The Singing
Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 124.
1105
Martin Hewitt, The Dawn of the Cheap Press in Victorian Britain : The End of the 'Taxes on
Knowledge' 1849-1869 (London: Bloomsbury, 2014) <https://books.google.co.uk> [Accessed 24 January2017].
1106'Stamp Office', Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 25 August 1855,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 24 May 2016] p. 1.
1107'The New Patent Portable Bell Piano', The Star 17th November 1883,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> p. 5.
1108
Despite printed music being passed down with Hampton MS, it is interesting that only one of thetunes in Hampton MS (in Soobroy’s section) appears to have been copied directly from those books.
1103

275

Instead I believe they were borrowing a printed copy, selecting specific items andcopying them into their manuscripts to create their own personal repertoire andreturning the printed source. Given that we have ascertained that they were nottranscribing from memory, supporting evidence can be seen in ‘cluster copying’,1109
the haphazard tune ordering,1110 and the evidence of hurried transcriptions.
Two key elements in Hampton MS confirm this, firstly the layout of the books andsecondly, clues which hint at the speed at which it was compiled. Hampton’s
manuscript can be loosely divided into five different stages, starting with apedagogically influenced section, perhaps taken from a tutor book or book foramateurs (see Ham.2.2) followed by older, tunes, some of which were copied from
Hopwood & Crew’s 100 Country Dances. The third section demonstrates more
contemporary tunes with a prospective parent source identified. From Ham.6.3, sevenof the following ten tunes replicate Westrop’s arrangements to the extent that
Westrop’s 120 Country Dances, can be identified as a credible direct source.
Furthermore, the layout of the other tunes (at the top of pages, Ham.6.1, Ham.6.2,
Ham.7.1, Ham.7.2 for example), could imply Hampton copied Westrop’s tunes
sequentially, initially filling up spaces on three pages underneath more modern,popular tunes, until he reached an empty page where he copied his final two tunes
from Westrop. A more religious and sentimental tone follows in section four,
influenced by Moody & Sankey’s writing, interspersed with popular, contemporary
songs. The final ‘hornpipe’ section clearly identifies a direct source of Kerr’s ‘Merry
Melodies’, for a number of the tunes.1111
These vaguely defined stages and evidence such as the inclusion of a waltz (Ham.5.2),
sandwiched between two hornpipes indicates that Hampton did not plan to lay out hismusic in dance sets ready for continuous performance or in dance type in order toselect a specific tune. Instead, it appears that he has copied out groups of tunes or asingle tune he liked or wanted to learn, when he came across them in a variety ofprinted books.
1109

See below.
If the compilers were purchasing their own copies of print and used the manuscripts to simply create
personal repositories, it would make sense to organise the music into dance type or a specific order tohelp retrieval.
1111
See Chapter 4, ‘Sources’ section and Appendix B.
1110

276

Further evidence in Hampton MS (Ham.1.3), suggests that groups of tunes weretranscribed in one sitting, indicating one source for a cluster of tunes. Here, ink
smudges, which were not evident in the first two items, could show that the ink of thelast tune on the first page was not dry when the page was turned. Ham.10.1 is anotherexample, where the melody of ‘Last Rose of Summer’, is placed on a page with acluster of religious tunes. This tune was used as a temperance song towards the end of
the century,1112 and indicates the chapel as a source for some of the tunes on thispage, perhaps borrowing a printed collection of religious tunes and copying down in
one sitting. Throughout the manuscript Hampton generally shows an inconsistency intranscribing dotted hornpipe rhythms. In Ham.15.1 he transcribes dots consistently forthe entirety of the tune, yet the dots in the two hornpipes on the opposite page
(Ham.14.1 and Ham.14.2) are omitted, implying he has copied them from different
sources.
Similarly the contents of Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript are not necessarily ordered bydance type. Although the first seven items are all hornpipes, I believe this was due tobeing copied from one source rather than ease of performance. The remainder is a
mixture of chiefly popular dance and song melody, suggestive of copying down tunes
when he came across them. I would argue that the bulk of the manuscript wascompiled in a few sittings rather than over a lengthy period of time and that there wasa requirement to transcribe with haste, perhaps to return a printed copy, rather than aleisurely compilation. A sense of urgency in transcription is implied in Til.36.1 – Til.38.1
which are all transcribed in pencil, with the following tune (Til.40.1), also written inpencil and then inked over,1113 suggesting initial copying in pencil with the intention of
inking over when more time allowed. Likewise, as seen in Hampton MS discussed
above, mirrored ink blotting seen on Til.42.1 and Til.43.1 suggests that the ink ofTil.42.1 was still wet as he turned the page after having written Til.43.1,1114 (Figure
121).

1112

Scott, The Singing Bourgeois : Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour, p. 189.
The same occurs later in Til.58.1.
1114
The e’ on the top line and the f#’ and e’ on line 2.
1113

277

Figure 121 : Til.42.1 and Til.43.1.

So too, Til.56.1, appears to be untitled, yet the title is given on the following page
(Til.57.1, Figure 122), suggesting the melody was transcribed before the title, andwhen returning to add the title, he wrote it in error over the wrong tune.

Figure 122 : Til.57.1.

Bennett’s layout shows similar evidence. The hornpipes are all grouped in one section(Ben.110.2-Ben.117.1), and otherwise there does not appear to be a logical or practicalorder in the overall layout of tunes once again suggesting selection and copying from anumber of different sources.
Having proposed that the compilers were copying their tunes from borrowed printed
or manuscript sources, investigation is needed into where they were borrowing from.
In the nineteenth-century borrowing was commonplace and Lenneberg remarks on its
effect on music dissemination.1115 It is possible that the compilers were borrowing
from friends,1116 and Russell describes how, in larger groups of amateur musicians (asopposed to our single instrumentalists), a published, printed version would be1115

Hans Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music', The Library Quarterly:
Information, Community, Policy, 52. 2 (1982), 122-30.
1116
Perhaps Soobroy’s printed music was borrowed by Hampton and not returned.

278

purchased and then circulated amongst the members to be copied.1117 In the case ofsome of Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett’s tunes which imply group or band involvement,
this may have been the case, or perhaps borrowing from a dance or military volunteer
band leader, 1118 however I believe a much larger social and cultural influence was thecause.
It is known that some of the self-improvement institutions had libraries, some evenmusic libraries.1119 However, the interest in music is more specialist and maintaining an
up-to-date musical library to match trends in popular fashion would have put
constraints on these charitable institutions. When searching through contemporary
newspaper advertisements for music sellers, I became aware of a much under-studied
yet seemingly wide-spread nineteenth-century social and cultural phenomenon:
Musical Circulating Libraries (MCL). These libraries are mentioned in the art music field
too as when comparing the small number of sales of Schumann’s work to the wide
dissemination of his music and reputation, Lenneberg concludes that musical lending
libraries could have accelerated the distribution.1120 I believe the compilers of the
Fiddlers’ Tunebooks were also accessing their printed music from MCLs.
Musical Circulating Libraries
The number of newspaper advertisements mentioning MCLs implies they werecommonplace, yet I found only four academic papers written about them.1121 The mostrecent scholarly work dates from 1982, and it is worth considering reasons for this. It
could be due to a lack of previous academic study, which in turn could result fromminimal commentary regarding MCLs in nineteenth-century music journals or thehistorical record. It is possible that their presence at the time was so widespread thatmuch advertising of their whereabouts was unnecessary. Lenneberg believes that the“matter-of-fact tone” given in references to MCLs implies “that by the middle of the1117

Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 173.
It was interesting to come across perforated, smaller music sheets at BL for band leaders to
distribute amongst members.
1119
In 1821, The Bradford Musical Friendly Society was founded “as a music library for local musicians”.
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 196. And just as music was sold by
non-specific shops so it is possible that the general libraries also held music.
1120
Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music', p. 122.
1121
Trevor Fawcett, 'Music Circulating Libraries in Norwich', The Musical Times, 119. 1625 (1978), 59495; Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music'; Alec Hyatt King, 'Music
Circulating Libraries in Britain', The Musical Times, 119. 1620 (1978), 134-38; Victor A. Perch, 'Music
Circulating Libraries', The Musical Times, 122. 1663 (1981), 601-01.
1118

279

nineteenth century musical lending libraries were common”.1122 He suggests that MCLs
were not approved of due to “the musical world [having] misgivings about the practiceof lending…seem to have been held in contempt by publishers and booksellers”,1123
and that general lending libraries had a bad reputation due to their role in thedissemination of “erotic literature”.1124 This could account for the absence ofadvertisements or references to MCLs in the more prestigious music journals of thetime. Perhaps a fear of copying diminishing profit might also have affected musicsellers’ opinions although this contempt and fear is not reflected by the publishers
who maintained their own lending libraries, nor were MCLs mentioned in the articles
covered by Coover regarding copyright.1125 Perhaps the unsubstantiated legality or anembarrassment at being unable to afford to purchase, might have played a part at
MCLs adopting a low profile. However, I feel their inconspicuousness is most likely
evidence of the historical record omitting to tell the story of the ordinary person.
No advertisements for MCLs appear in the musical journals but advertisements incontemporary newspapers are plentiful. They advertise MCLs operated by the large
London publishers, through to small MCLs operated by music shops and evenindependent music teachers.1126 Newspapers are perhaps the chosen format as they
had a wider circulation,1127 but also as they target more specifically the demographic
using the libraries. The musical elite (the demographic more acquainted with music
journals), being able to afford to purchase print. This favoured advertising medium
might account for lack of study or awareness as until recently scholars relied on timeconsuming manual searches of newspaper advertisements. Now, digitalisation
facilitates fast and easy newspaper searches and the abundance of MCLs is moreclearly in evidence.
Despite the seeming profusion of MCLs, very few printed ‘Terms and Conditions’survive, presenting difficulties when assessing affordability for the lower classes. 1128

1122

Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music', p. 123.
Ibid. pp. 125-26.
1124
Ibid. p. 126.
1125
As discussed in Chapter 4.
1126
King, 'Music Circulating Libraries in Britain', p. 134.
1127
Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music', p. 128.
1128
I can only find two extant Terms and Conditions, both in BL and both of large London MCLs.
Catalogue of Novello, Ewer & Co.'S Circulating Music Library, (London: Novello, Ewer & Co, c1890?);
1123

280

From what can be determined, terms of borrowing vary not only between different
libraries, but between the different services a borrower required.1129 An advertisementfor Duck’s ‘Cheap Music Repository’, shows an annual subscription of twenty-one
shillings,1130 which would equate to a weekly subscription of just under five pence,
excessive for the compilers’ demographic but affordable if shared between a group ofmusical friends. This fee would offer access to vast quantities of tune collections for awhole year costing much less than a one-off purchase of one copy of Chappell’s ‘Cheap
Works’ outright. However, it is possible that the compilers’ sources were more along
the lines of a smaller MCL establishment detailed by Fawcett which offered a copy on anightly rate of one penny.1131 This time-limit would corroborate the sense of urgency
suggested in the copying.
Whilst no MCLs can be found advertised in Povey’s bookshop or in other outlets ofBerkeley or Dursley for Till/Clutterbuck, reference to a potential MCL in Stroud,1132 canbe seen in Figure 116 above. Bennett could have had access to Mr Erith’s MCL in
Taunton, dated 1844 if it was still a going concern sixteen years later (Figure 123).1133

Catalogue of the Universal Circulating Music Library, (London: Novello, Ewer & Co, c1868?). Someadvertisements in BNA provide some further details.
1129
For example, Novello, Ewer & Co’s MCL offered six different classes (appropriate for town or country
borrowers). They ranged from five Guineas per annum for a town dwelling band leader to borrow
instrumental parts, up to eighteen pieces daily, down to three shillings on a weekly basis to borrow
twelve pieces per week (for a town dweller), or twenty pieces (for a country dweller). Catalogue ofNovello, Ewer & Co.'S Circulating Music Library.c1890?
1130'Duck's Cheap Musical Repository', Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 11 January 1866,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 28 April 2017] p. 8.
1131
Fawcett, 'Music Circulating Libraries in Norwich', p. 594.
1132
Admittedly the music side is not explicit.
1133'Music Saloon and Music Circulating Library', Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser, 21 February
1844, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 27 April 2017] p. 1. A transcription isprovided in Appendix G.

281

Figure 123 : Extract from Taunton Courier, 1844. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

In Hereford, an advertisement can be found for an MCL operating in the same street inwhich Hampton lived fifteen years later (Figure 124).1134

Figure 124 : Extract from Hereford Times, 1855. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Although no evidence exists to show Hampton as a customer, it is an interesting
example indicating that individual music teachers had access to either catalogues or
actual stock too. The disappointing number of MCLs found in relation to the compilers
might be due to their commonality, suggesting advertisements were not necessary,and word of mouth or local knowledge serving just as well. This could suggest that1134

'Musical Library', Hereford Times, 24 March 1855, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>[accessed 29 March 2017] p. 5.

282

both the music seller in Bridgwater (Figure 117), and Hereford’s large music shop,‘Heins’ (Figure 119) may have operated unadvertised MCLs too.
The range of music offered by the MCLs was extensive and catered not only for
ensembles or the Drawing-room genre but would have been directly applicable to thecompilers. Advertisements show the repertoire included that reflected in the
manuscripts. This advertisement for ex-library stock lists instrumental music:
Thousands of Pieces of Vocal and Instrumental MUSIC, used in the Library are
now offered for a short time only, at ONE THIRD the Published Price, An
Immense Selection of POPULAR MUSIC, a little soiled, AT ONE QUARTER.1135
And in Taunton, Mr Erith’s MCL offers “The most popular Quadrilles, Waltzes, by
Jullien…and arrangements from Balfe’s new and popular Opera ‘The BOHEMIAN
GIRL’”.1136
Interestingly, it appears that MCLs belonging to specific publishers were not confined
to lending their own published material. An examination of the two surviving MCL‘Terms and Conditions’ held at BL, both operated by Novello, Ewer & Co., shows thatthey lent Chappell’s songs, Boose’s Military Journal and, of interest to our compilers,
single instrumental arrangements of popular music, such as those influencing thecompilers.1137 It seems that smaller, provincial MCLs saw their lack of dependence on a
specific publisher as a selling point. James Moutrie’s MCL in Bristol states:
the following advantages over those in London, viz. – of having a different
selection of Music every Day, which will not be circumscribed within the limits
of one publisher’s catalogue, as those of London are; also of allowing persons
to subscribe for any length of time, from One Week to a Year, besides thesaving of carriage to and fro…1138
Whilst copying was voiced as a threat to publishers, it is noteworthy that in Coover’s
documented meetings and court cases, there is no mention of MCLs or their threat to
publishers’ profit.1139 Copying was clearly commonplace and Lenneberg shows it was

1135'Great and Immediate Sale of Music', Cheltenham Chronicle, 3 January 1860,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 6 October 2016] p. 4.
1136'Music Saloon and Music Circulating Library'.
1137
Catalogue of Novello, Ewer & Co.'S Circulating Music Library.
1138'Music Circulating Library', Bristol Mirror, 22 August 1835,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 23 June 2016] p. 3.
1139
Coover283

even a service offered by the MCL outlets themselves.1140 Cramer felt that copying“furthered musical enjoyment”,1141 acknowledging that some borrowed specifically tocopy, stating “it would be foolish to try to prevent such practices”.1142 Lenneberg
suggests that lending worked not just as it enabled copying, but to try the music before
you buy it, stating that “by lending to reliable customers, the dealer at least earned
some interest on his investment and tempted many to purchase the works theyespecially liked”.1143
Nineteenth-century musician and poet, John Clare, “usd [sic] to seize the leisure thatevery wet day brought me to go to Drurys shop to read books & to get new tunes formy fiddle”,1144 and VMP put forward that he was “copying the latest tunes frompublished books into his manuscript book”.1145 Trade directories are scant for Clare’s
location and period yet Gorji names the ‘New Public Library’ owned by Edmund Drury,“an early supporter of Clare’s and a source of much of his early reading”,1146 who
operated as a bookshop and lending library, and presumably also acted as a musicseller. Although no mention is made of whether he also ran an MCL, presumably hedid, or some other financial arrangement existed between Drury and Clare, otherwise
Drury might have given Clare short shrift. This hint of an MCL as an everyday part of
Clare’s contextual background not only justifies Clare’s actions but indicates no direct
mention of the MCL, perhaps unnecessary due to widespread public knowledge, thus
its subsequent absence in the historical record.
Lenneberg states that “many borrowers would damage their music forcing them tobuy it”,1147 corroborated by the Hales advertisement above and Novello’s
regulations.1148 It is not impossible that Soobroy was forced to purchase his printed

1140

Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music', p. 125.
Ibid.
1142
Ibid.
1143
Ibid.
1144
George Deacon, John Clare and the Folk Tradition, (London: Frances Boutle Publishers, 2002), p.
305.
1145
The Village Music Project, 'Manuscripts'.
1146
Mina Gorji, John Clare and the Place of Poetry (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2008)<https://books.google.co.uk> [Accessed 27 April 2017].
1147
Lenneberg, 'Early Circulating Libraries and the Dissemination of Music', p. 125.
1148
These regulations insist that: “Any pieces of Music which become torn, soiled, written on orotherwise damaged, whilst in the possession of the Subscriber, will be charged for”, Catalogue ofNovello, Ewer & Co.'S Circulating Music Library.c1890
1141

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copy of Boosey’s 100 Dances following the pencil transcription of the waltz which also
appears in Hampton’s manuscript.1149
Whether the sole purpose of the MCLs was to provide copies for their customers totranscribe, or if the original intention was to provide a ‘try before you buy’ service, is
not known. Certainly, MCLs are not comparable with general lending libraries where,
once a book is read the end-user retains the overall shape of the story and theemotions evoked from reading it. It is generally read and enjoyed once, after which itdoes not matter if one forgets it, whilst sheet music is referred to repreatedly over a
period of time.The likelihood of remembering an entire book of tunes once returned toan MCL is doubtful and suggests copying was a strong motive behind them. As thecentury progressed MCLs and the need to compile manuscripts became redundant as,
combined with mass production lowering prices, and the real-time pay increases from
1870s taking effect, the lower classes had more disposable income to purchase theirown copies of music.1150 Consequently the once commonplace MCLs became a shortlived phenomenon whose existence has been largely forgotten.
Not only did MCLs offer cheaper access to printed music, they offered a wide andvaried repertoire enabling the compiler to create their own selection, bound up in one
easily transportable manuscript. King highlights the importance of this aspect and therole of the MCLs in controlling and monitoring changes in fashion and taste:
The choice offered not only reflected the tastes of the musical public to someextent through the widespread, repeated use of its catalogue, but also musthave contributed in part to the creation of those tastes. This is the significanceof the music circulating library.1151
The re-discovery of MCLs is important as is their crucial role in the formation of themanuscripts. They offer a justifiable means through which the working-class compilers,
both urban and rural could access a wide range of both historic and modern tunes
1149

Discussed and shown in Part 2 and concerning Ham.8.1.
See also The Musical Gem, discussed in Chapter 4 regarding sources and survival, and priced at three
pence (face value so perhaps actually sold at a third less, at one penny).
1151
King, 'Music Circulating Libraries in Britain', p. 138.
1150

285

from contemporary, popular print. This significant finding raises the importance of themanuscripts. Their ability to show a synchronic period demonstrates popular taste atthat time, and moreover personal selection of this taste, which cannot be perceived byexamining the content of the printed sources alone.

Part 1 - Conclusion
Part 1 has considered the compilers’ economic and logistical ability to access musicalresources, specifically printed music. Despite extensive discounting, the high price ofthe ‘cheap’ works was deemed likely beyond the reach of a compiler from the lower
end of the demographic. This, coupled with the evidence of the ‘cluster’ layout oftunes found in the manuscripts led to the conclusion that the compilers wereborrowing printed music, with the intention of making their own copy. Unearthing theexistence of MCLs showed them to be a highly probable establishment from which thecompilers’ up-to-date musical items were being sourced. Not only do I believe that themusical practice represented by the manuscripts was heavily dependent on MCLs, italso appears that MCLs were a wide and popular resource in broader nineteenthcentury amateur music making – whether vernacular or higher brow. As such they area crucial, yet understudied element of Victorian popular music culture. I believe MCLs
to have been vital in the formation of the post-1850 manuscript archive andconsequently, should also be considered as an important resource in the formation offolk music tradition.

Part 2 – Acquiring Skill
Part 2 considers how the men from this lower demographic acquired substantial levelsof both general and musical literacy, levels which surpass those perceived to exist
amongst the unlettered English nineteenth-century lower-class society. Initially, I
examine perceived literacy levels amongst this occupational class and then explore theinteraction between musical literacy and general literacy. The manuscripts are
consulted to understand the compilers’ levels of musical literacy and wider evidence
sought to inform their route to these skills. Two very different acquisition routes begin
to emerge and while the compilers’ differing environments do not appear to influence
the content of the manuscripts, an urban/rural divide can potentially be seen withregards to their acquisition of skill.

286

Perceived Literacy Levels
As discussed throughout the thesis, an inherited view of the folk suggests they wererural, lower-class and unlettered.1152 Reasons for this notion have been explored, butwhat is key here is to establish how illiterate the lower classes in nineteenth-century
England actually were. A clear result is impossible to ascertain. This is in part due todiffering interpretations regarding measuring literacy. Whilst some historians measure
those who can read but not write, others would consider both are necessary factors
while some consider numeracy to play a part too.1153 Rodmell accepts that “literacy
statistics are difficult to calculate”, acknowledging that “the commonly accepted
measure is 'signature literacy'; the most comprehensive survey of this in the Victorianperiod is on marriage certificates”.1154 However, research revealed in this thesis showsthat using marriage certificate signatures as evidence of literacy is unreliable.1155 I havecarried out a wider literature survey, shown in Appendix J, to try and establish
nineteenth-century literacy levels,1156 which suggests that the unlettered folk and the“inarticulate masses”,1157 did not make up quite such a substantial proportion of the
population as is often thought. Hence it is not overly surprising that the three casestudy compilers were capable of general literacy skills.
With specific reference to musical literacy, Sartin believes it was “almost unknown
amongst the labouring classes”,1158 and Russell suggests that musical education inschool was haphazard at best. He believes that prior to 1840 it was largely nonexistent and cites the work of Kay and Hullah teaching schoolmasters to sing, as
pivotal, from the 1840s onwards, although notes “the actual existence of school music
was still almost entirely dependent upon the whims of individual teachers”.1159
However, Marsh, writing about the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries argues that,“it seems possible that levels of musical literacy were rising more rapidly than wemight have assumed”,1160 and Hornby finds musical literacy levels in early nineteenth1152

Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), pp. 3-4.
Lemire, 'A Historiographical Survey of Literacy in Britain between 1780 and 1830', p. 249.
1154
Rodmell, 'Introduction', p. 3.
1155
This was discussed in depth in Chapter 4.
1156
As this contextual survey is not directly musicological I have placed it in Appendix J, citing the main
findings.
1157
Kathleen Raine, The Land Unknown, (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1975), p. 81.
1158
Sartin, 'The Songs of Edith Sartin of Corscombe', p. 30.
1159
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 51.
1160
Marsh, Music and Society in Early Modern England, p. 6.
1153

287

century Wyresdale seemingly high, attributing it to the “number of Quakers andMethodists who believed that education was the route to self-improvement”.1161
The most helpful theories regarding lower-class musical literacy are found in
Gammon’s work. In addition to proposing self-tutors and psalm collections as a route
to self-educated musical literacy,1162 he cites itinerant music teachers as “having avested interest in the musical literacy of their customers”.1163 Gammon provides
details of a musically capable head-teacher and a vicar who would come in “threetimes a week to teach scripture and sometimes music theory and singing”.1164 He also
points to opportunities for adults to have instrumental lessons during the latenineteenth-century at, “mechanical institutes, mutual improvement societies, andreading rooms”,1165 echoed by Rose in the area of general literacy. Gammon’s
discovery of Nye’s spiritual autobiography reveals that Nye, who had a diverse career
dominated by labouring professions, was musically literate, even to the extent oftranscribing his own compositions.1166 However, unfortunately, Nye does not provide
details of how he acquired his skills (both literate and technical). We learn that it wasaround the time of his marriage that he learnt to play music (1845), suggesting that theskill was not assimilated as a boy, but it was a conscious act of learning as a youngman, which then facilitated him to join a band, and to play music to accompany
dancing.1167
Thus, it appears that general literacy was not out of reach of the mid-lower levels ofsociety and in reality, was likely to be more wide-spread than is perceived. Likewise,musical literacy was not inaccessible to lower classes. However, further investigation is1161

Hornby, The Winders of Wyresdale, p. 4.
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 35.
1163
Ibid.
1164
Ibid. p. 286.
1165
Ibid. p. 287.
1166
Nye, 'A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness', p. 39 & 41. Gammon states he “left usa quantity of music he played, amongst which are many of his own compositions”, although there is no
detail whether the music was all sacred or if secular music was also included. Gammon, 'Introduction', p.
7.
1167
Nye, 'A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness', pp. 13-14. It is possible he acquired
musical skill through a church band, although the only mention he makes of music in church at thattime, is specifically denoted as singing. Gammon includes examples of two hymns composed by Nye (seeabove footnote), although there is not date given when these were composed or if they were used inchurch services.
1162

288

required to ascertain from where these skills were emanating, especially as thecompilers’ manuscripts date prior to the start of compulsory education.
Musical Literacy in Relation to General Literacy
General literacy, musical literacy and musical skill are different entities and all threeskills are not required in order to achieve proficiency at one. Musical skill can beacquired independently as the illiterate ‘ear-players’ demonstrate.1168 They can playtunes without being able to read music and also do not necessarily need (or have) askill in general literacy in order to do so. Similarly, being able to read music does notinevitably imply instrumental musicianship and so too, does not prove an ability toread or write in general terms. With guidance, young children are capable ofrudimentarily reading music and playing that music on an instrument before learning
to reading words.1169 Basic musical notation relies on identifying the position ofsymbols, rather than complex ordering of letters.
However, a general skill in literacy can enable a subsequent skill in musical literacy. In
Medieval music, Strohm argues that musical literacy could have expanded dramaticallyfrom as early as the late Middle Ages, in line with an increase in general literacy,“which with little educational effort, could be turned into musical literacy”. 1170 This isinteresting, not least because it opens up the possibility of a nineteenth-century
musician reading pedagogic material to acquire those skills. Gammon observes this inchurch band musicians who were able to self-teach musical literacy (and skill) using
psalm collections “and other sorts of self-tutor”.1171 It is also possible to see aconnection between this method and the self-improvement movement.
Just because some young children can read simple music notation they are notnecessarily as capable of transcribing it. This may suggest that, in line with generalliteracy, the ability to read music is acquired prior to the skill of writing it. The concept
of copying music could be seen as an intermediate stage between reading and writing
music, as copying does not require an ability to understand and therefore be wholly

1168

Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'.
I am citing personal experience with three of my children, and I do not believe they are alone in thisability.
1170
Reinhard Strohm, 'Unwritten and Written Music', in Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music,
ed. by Tess Knighton and David Fallows (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 228-33 (p. 231).
1171
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 35.
1169

289

musically literate. In Medieval music, scholars debate the role and ability of thecopyists, questioning whether the scribes were mindlessly copying the repertoire fromexemplars into chansonniers or if they actually did possess some level of musicalliteracy and compositional skill.1172 Transferring these ideas to the manuscript
compilers reveals several interesting points.
The survey conducted to justify transmission methods in Chapter 3 goes someway tosupport the Medieval theorists, revealing that in order to achieve a convincing, neat
and accurate copy, a high level of musical skill was not necessarily required. As theexamples in Appendix D show, the vast difference in transcription skills demonstrated
between many of the ‘memory’ transcriptions versus the copied transcriptions carriedout by the same person, suggests that despite being musically literate,1173 theparticipants were neater and more accurate when copying. Some of the participants’‘memory’ transcriptions were musically inaccurate and unclear yet their ‘copied’transcriptions were accurate, orderly and precise and gave the impression of muchhigher levels of musical literacy (with regards to transcription).1174
The evidence indicates that the majority of the compilers’ tunes were copied into themanuscripts, which could indicate that they did not possess a good standard of musicalliteracy and were merely ‘blind’ copying, with little understanding of what they were
copying. Likewise, general literacy skills could be over-exaggerated andTill/Clutterbuck’s transcription “Not Copyright”,1175 could arguably have been blindly
copied from a music book rather than having any relevance. Similarly, Hampton’s lackof marginalia could be evidence of poor levels of general literate ability. Consequently,
this might indicate a better understanding of musicality and literacy levels than was
true.

1172

Elizabeth Aubrey, 'Literacy, Orality and the Preservation of French and Occitan Medieval Courtly
Songs', Revista de Musicologia, 16 (1993), 2355-66 (p. 2357).
1173
The participants were chosen so that they could read and ‘write’ music and perform on an
instrument but were not professional, nor studied music at degree level.
1174
It would be interesting to conduct a similar survey in which the focus group comprised solely nonmusically literate people and assess their ability to copy music accurately. Had the idea come to me
before February 2018 I would have done such a survey, but given the time taken to receive University of
Sheffield Ethics Approval (as this survey would differ from the earlier one for which Ethics Approval was
obtained in May 2017 (which took seven weeks to be granted), it was decided to leave this as an areafor future study).
1175
See Til.21.1 and Chapter 4.

290

Further, as examined in Chapter 4, none of the compilers signed their own marriage
certificates, which, if taken on face value, could suggest they were all lacking in generalliteracy skills. Thus it is possible that despite the manuscripts providing an initial
impression of both good levels of general and musical literacy, the compilers in fact
had poor levels of both. Therefore, those few tunes which appear to be written in‘shorthand’, and thought to be written from memory,1176 may be a better reflection of
the compilers’ actual musical transcription skills, as opposed to copying skills.
In truth, I believe that being capable of copying a tune title suggests they had thecapacity to copy and then learn at the very least, their own name and illiteracy isunlikely. Furthermore, oral narrative describes Bennett as artistic and well-read,1177
and his marginalia suggests he could write, rather than merely copy. 1178 Added to this,copying was a time-consuming, laborious task. It is fair to assume that they would only
commit to this effort if it offered advantages of speed, ease and reliability and they
could actually read the tunes and translate them into a sound on their instruments
compared to learning the tune ‘by ear’. Given the potential interactions andindependence of the different skills it is important that assumptions are not madebased on the evidence of one skill.

Musical Literacy and Ability in the Case-Studies
Thus I believe that the compilers’ ability to read music is an established fact.
Furthermore, the shorthand transcriptions in Hampton and Bennett MSS,1179 whichsuggest a tune hastily copied or written by ear to act as an aide-memoire rather than anote for note representation, suggest a fair level of musical literacy and subsequently agood level of musical skill to interpret the rough transcriptions into music.
Hampton
It would have been interesting to observe a progression of musical literacy skills
throughout the manuscripts, but this does not appear to be the case. What can beseen within the printed music which accompanied Hampton MS,1180 however, is a tune
written slightly primitively, in pencil with hand drawn staves. Figure 125 shows the1176

See Appendix A and B.
Grc08, Email.
1178
See Ben.97.1 and his writing of the word “Dress Jackets” discussed in Chapter 5.
1179
See Chapter 4 and Appendix B, Ham.4.4, Ham.12.3, Ham.13.2, Ham.13.3, Ben.36.2, Ben.81.1.
1180
Boosey, One Hundred Dances for the Violin.
1177

291

back of the book (which precedes the book signed by Soobroy), on which a pencil
version of ‘valse’ (Ham.8.1) is written. Despite the first two treble clefs differing (thetop treble clef resembles Hampton’s), the remainder appears to be in Hampton’snotational hand. This is potential evidence of Hampton practicing his musical notation,either prior to entering into the manuscript in ink, or some time before when he waslearning, and could be evidence of Hampton’s improving musical literacy skills.1181

Figure 125 : A pencil transcription of 'Valse' found in Boosey’s 100 Dances, compared to ‘Valse’, Ham.8.1.

Other pedagogic elements are visible in Hampton too, although not demonstrative of
progression as such, and are discussed later in the chapter with reference to the autodidactic movement.
Overall however, the technical ability required to play the tunes suggests that
Hampton was an adequate player and was not learning the instrument as a beginner.
This can be corroborated by a transcription error in Ham.9.2 (Figure 126), which hedoes not correct, yet was presumably aware of and can adjust when playing: the fourtunes before Ham.9.2 existed as exact duplicates in Westrop’s 120 Country Dances.1182
On the surface, this tune marks Hampton’s departure from that source: Westrop’s
1181
1182

Alternatively, it could merely be evidence of haste of copying and on an uneven surface.
Westrop, 120 Country Dances, p. 3.

292

version (Figure 127), is in C major and Hampton’s version, although not having a key
signature, thus suggesting C major, is written as if it should be in E major.

Figure 126 : Ham.9.2.

Figure 127 : Westrop's arrangement of ‘The Ratcatcher's Daughter’. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Westrop, 120
Country Dances.

I believe Hampton accidentally started the tune one line above the intended line. It is
likely he realised his error and continued regardless, to avoid re-working or to avoid
extensive crossings out, as he includes the accidental # used by Westrop for the ‘f’ inbar 11 and tentatively places it in front of the ‘b’ in his respective bar 11, to refer tothe three subsequent incorrect ‘a’s. This suggests he had musical ability to play by ear,or transpose on sight, using the transcription as an aid but playing a third below. Other
examples of musical proficiency can be seen in tunes where the note registers indicate
a necessity to move a violinist’s left hand out of 1st position into 3rd position, a more
technically advanced technique.1183 Admittedly these only occur in Soobroy’stranscription so may not be indicative of Hampton’s skill.
Till/Clutterbuck
Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript demonstrates a knowledgeable level of musical literacy,with articulation and other stylistic markings frequently present. However, as indicatedabove, this does not necessarily mean that he possessed great musical literacy skills,
merely that perhaps he was a proficient copyist. Overall the notation and hand-writing1183

See for example Ham.1.1 and Ham.2.4.

293are neat, and it is sometimes possible to notice pencil markings (Figure 128), whichhave been subsequently inked over, suggesting a lack of confidence or pride inensuring the manuscript is tidy and accurate.

Figure 128 : Til.58.1 where initial pencil notation can be seen to have been inked over.

There is nothing excessively technical in the manuscript due mainly to the style oftunes although the copying of articulation, structural, slurring, phrasing and dynamic
markings,1184 suggest the book was not being used by a novice and that
Till/Clutterbuck was (or aspired to be) a competent musician.
Bennett
Bennett, the most occupationally skilled of the three compilers, not only shows a goodlevel of general and musical literacy, but artistic skill and his manuscript is suggestiveof musical competence on several instruments.1185 The inclusion of articulation,
dynamics and phrasing or slurring could suggest a good level of musical understanding
and/or instrumental technique, or at the very least indicates he was unlikely to be a
beginner.1186 Furthermore, the ‘Dress Jacket’ marginalia (Ben.97.1),1187 hints at a goodstandard of playing, worthy of performances at formal occasions or locations.

Routes of Literacy and Technical Acquisition In the Case-Studies
Evidence from all three manuscripts suggest that the compilers (and additional guest
scribes), were capable musicians with a good musical reading level and likely equippedwith general and musical transcription literacy skills, and the discussion now explores
1184

For example, see Til.5.1, Til.7.1, Til.10.1, Til.25.1, Til.36.1, Til.38.1, etc.
See discussion in Chapter 2 and images in Chapter 1.
1186
Notwithstanding previous remarks regarding copyist skills.
1187
Discussed and shown Chapter 5.
1185

294

where these skills were acquired. Four key environments emerge as potential placesfrom which the compilers could have acquired musical literacy, namely school, home,religious institutions and the autodidactic movement.
SchoolDespite no compulsory or national school system prior to the 1870 Education Act,
some school access was available to poorer children.1188 Bob Copper gives a valuable
insight by providing a fascinating account of school life for both his grandfather, James(born 1845 and attended a Dame School) and his father, Jim (born 1882 and hence
eligible for the compulsory ‘free’ state education, although Copper describes a weekly
fee of one penny for his father to attend the school).1189 Here Copper describes
schooling methods used mid-century:
Pupils were each given a horn-book which consisted of a piece of paper printed
on both sides with the numerals from 0-9, the alphabet, the vowel sounds andthe Lord’s prayer. It was set in a wooden frame and protected on each sidewith a sheet of transparent horn. A handle was attached and the overall shape
was not unlike a square hand mirror and it was held in the same way. The
scholar was made to read and memorise what was printed on the book andthen, with it held behind his back, repeat out loud what he had learnt. This wastermed ‘saying his book’.1190
Schooling in the following generation took the form of the Church of England School,
where “the younger children sat on long forms or benches and leant to write on slateswith a slate-pencil tied to the wooden frame with a piece of string. They later
graduated to sitting at a desk with a copy-book and pen”.1191
However, despite the existence of school, children did not always attend (partly due tothe family’s financial loss of children’s wages and saving on the fees payable), and1188

Schools available to poorer children were charity schools (often with religious backing) and Dame
Schools, but no national system of schooling or compulsory attendance existed until the 1870 Education
Act. This Act aimed to provide “free, compulsory and non-religious education for all children”, although
the compulsory element was not made law until 1880 for five to ten-year-olds although attendance
rates in early 1890s were only 82%, and fees were still charged until 1891. Living Heritage, 'Going to
School : The 1870 Education Act', www.parliament.uk (No date) <http://www.parliament.uk> [accessed
27 April 2017].
1189
Copper, A Song for Every Season, p. 20.
1190
Ibid. p. 7.
1191
Ibid. p. 20.

295

teaching standards varied with no overall system in place.1192 That said, there wasscope for children from the lower occupational classes to have access to schooling,which may have equipped them with skills to teach themselves music (playing andliteracy), from an instrumental tutor book.
Specific music education varied from place to place, dependent on regional trends, andlocal knowledge.1193 Evidence exists of music being taught in Scotland in 1825 “uponthe Lancasterian plan, from a large roll many yards in extent, containing the gamut,with the addition of select tunes”.1194 This was not commonplace, at least in Englandand Russell states that “before about 1840, the study of music in schools…was almost
non-existent”.1195 In 1835, Lord Brougham called for the teaching of the rudiments ofvocal music,1196 and systems of sol-fa developed in different ways by Sarah Glover,John Curwen and John Hullah had widespread influence both within and outside theeducation system.1197
Regarding the compilers, evidence only exists for Hampton attending school or at theleast being marked as a scholar on the census.1198 Blaisdon’s National School is listed in
the 1856,1199 and 1868,1200 directories and was established in 1847, “in the oldpoorhouse by the church”.1201 Hampton is absent from the 1861 census and by 1871 isgrown and married, so the length of time he attended school, if he did, cannot be
ascertained.1202 No extant records exist for Blaisdon school for this period.

1192

Ibid. p. 21. Copper describes how the boys and girls were taught practical skills in addition toacademic lessons. Both sexes were taught to knit, and the boys to weed the garden, and clean thewindows and toilets.
1193
See the above example from Gammon regarding the head teacher in Flimwell.
1194
Mackerness, A Social History of English Music, p. 129.
1195
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 51.
1196
Ibid.
1197
Bernarr Rainbow and Charles Edward McGuire, 'Tonic Sol-Fa', (Oxford University Press, 2014);
Bernarr Rainbow, 'Norwich Sol-Fa Ladder', (Oxford University Press, 2001); Pearsall, Victorian PopularMusic, p. 117. Sykes, 'The Evolution of Englishness in the English Folksong Revival, 1890-1914', p. 463.
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 54.
1198'Thomas Hampton', 1851 England Census Return.
1199'Blaisdon', p. 242 (1856).
1200'Blaisdon', p. 254 (1868).
1201
British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Blaisdon: Education', Institute of Historical
Research, University of London (2017) <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol10/pp10-11>[accessed 27 April 2017].
1202
Perhaps scholar was merely used as a term by some registrars to indicate a child of school age,rather than explicitly indicating attendance at school.

296

In the 1851 census Till/Clutterbuck is not listed as a scholar,1203 and by 1861, aged
fifteen, he was working as an Agricultural Labourer.1204 There is no mention of a schoolin Stone in the trade directories or the 1835 Education Enquiry,1205 and the parish
records detail one being built in the late 1860s,1206 too late for Till/Clutterbuck toattend. Several schools are listed in Berkeley so it is conceivable that he travelled thefive mile round trip to attend one there.1207
Bennett too, in the 1841 census, aged nine years, is not marked as a scholar.1208 An
excerpt from The Education Enquiry (Figure 129) lists three schools in Chedzoy in1835.1209

Figure 129 : Extract from 1835 Education Enquiry. Source: https://books.google.co.uk.

Despite all having closed by 1843,1210 they feasibly could have provided early schoolingto Bennett. It is possible that the cost was prohibitive to George’s parents, especiallybeing one of four children in 1841 and one of seven children by 1851. It transpiresthat a Sunday School provided educational provision until a National School wasestablished in 1861, taken over by the School Board in 1874.1211
Even if the case-study compilers had attended school, the evidence suggests thatduring their respective relevant time periods, they would not have been guaranteed a1203'George Clutterbuck', 1851 England Census Return.
'George Clutterbuck', 1861 England Census Return.
1205
House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Volume 41 and 42 : Education Enquiry (London: H.M.
Stationery Office, 1835), p. 304.
1206
The foundation stone laid in 1868. Gloucestershire Archives, 'P315 - Stone Parish Records.
P315/Sc/1/3', Gloucestershire County Council (2017)<http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=P315%2f11%2f1%2f3&pos=58> [accessed 27 April 2017].
1207'Berkeley', p. 10 (1859).
1208'George Wilkins Bennett', 1841 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 953; Book: 2; Civil
Parish: Chedzoy; County: Somerset; Enumeration District: 11; Folio: 9; Page: 12; Line: 3; GSU roll:
474602), <www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 24 April 2017].
1209
House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Volume 41 and 42 : Education Enquiry p. 799.
1210
British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Chedzoy : Education', Institute of Historical
Research, University of London (2017) <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol6/pp250-251>[accessed 27 April 2017].
1211
Ibid.
1204

297

comprehensive and systematic education. Further, evidence of notational musicalprovision in schools is rare. Hence, general and musical literacy skills from this sourcecannot be assured.
Home
By its very nature the informal passing on and assimilation of skills generally from aparent or family member leaves a distinct lack of evidence. Some evidence can befound in oral narratives such as Baldwin who learnt to play the violin from hisfather,1212 and brothers, Walter and John Chamberlain Bulwer who were taught toboth play violin and read music by their father in the late-nineteenth-century.1213
Establishing the initial source of the knowledge is unclear although membership in the
church bands is a plausible suggestion, discussed in detail by Gammon,1214 and touched
on below. A ‘bottom up’ approach may also have existed whereby children attending
Sunday School or school were acquiring skills and passing them up to their parents.
Soobroy’s education, or writing at least appears better than Hampton’s and the census
reveals that Walter’s mother/grandmother did not work.1215 This may have offered
more opportunity to pass skills to Walter at home, or indicative of disposable income
to afford to send Walter to a school. His father/grandfather’s role as a cabinetmaker
would class him as a skilled labourer, a higher occupational class than Hampton’s
parents, once again possibly contributing to better access to education and literacy
within the Soobroy family.
Similarly, it is feasible that Bennett, following in the skilled trade of his father, learnt
literacy and musical skills from family members alongside the trade.1216 The lease
document (Figure 130),1217 provides evidence of George’s grandfather, William being
able to write, suggesting a potential source for Bennett’s literacy.

1212

Heath-Coleman, Stephen Baldwin 'Here's One You'll Like, I Think', p. 3.
Chris Holderness, 'Walter and Daisy Bulwer. Recollections of the Shipdham Musicians by Membersof Their Community. Mt185', Musical Traditions Internet Magazine, (2009),<http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bulwer.htm> [accessed 27 April 2017].
1214
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914'.
1215'Richard Gough', 1851 England Census Return.
1216
However, no evidence of musical siblings or family members to support this can be found.
1217
Somerset Heritage Centre, Lease of Twelve Acres of Pasture on King's Sedgemoor. Reproduced withkind permission of the South West Heritage Trust.
1213

298

Figure 130 : William Bennett's Lease. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC (DD/BR/ely/13/1/116).

Religious Institutions
The traditional activities of the Anglican churches differ from Nonconformist chapels
and for this reason I have differentiated between the two, apart from the discussion
regarding Sunday School.
Anglican Churches
The Anglican Church contributed much to musical ability and literacy in the early-mid
part of the century but more from ‘inside’ involvement rather than deliberate
education. Webster’s painting,1218 shown and discussed in Chapter 5, depicts membersof a West Gallery church band reading from music, corroborating levels of bothgeneral and musical literacy.
The skills of a band member could be “assimilated through upbringing andexposure”,1219 thus acquiring musical literacy through self-teaching using psalm
collections and self-tutors (relying too on general literacy), and “the encouragement ofothers”.1220 It is possible that membership of the church bands would have beenobtained through a relative or family friend who would take the time to teach andnurture a young, keen instrumentalist to the standard required to accompany thesinging on a Sunday. Whilst churches clearly had a role in the early part of the century,
the disbandment of the bands mid-century would have seriously affected their place inthe transmission of musical skill as the century progressed. It is feasible that an indirect
influence remained, with skills acquired by earlier generations of family members orneighbours remaining in use and passed down in the home. This could be especially sofor Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett whose manuscripts contain Anglican hymns and1218

Wikimedia Commons, 'File: Thomaswebster - the Village Choir.Jpg'.
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 34.
1220
Ibid.
1219

299

psalms. The similarity between the compilers’ demographic and that revealed by
Gammon in the members of the church bands (not just in occupations, but rural andmale dominated), is striking.1221 The correlation strengthens the argument that
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett acquired their skills this way.
Bennett’s manuscript opens with twenty Anglican psalms and hymns, some with titles
and meter, for example ‘Pilgrim Song 8:7:6’ or ‘Psalm 106 L. M.’, and others simply
indicating the psalm number. They are written in four parts,1222 the upper three intreble clef (tenor, alto, air), and the fourth part, bass in bass clef,1223 and frequently
written across two pages indicating use as a performance copy (Figure 131).

Figure 131 : Sacred material from Bennett MS, pp. 8-9.

In popular church music down to the mid nineteenth century the tune was commonlyplaced in the tenor voice. Many parts were present, however, a continuity from muchearlier musical practice. Despite detailed descriptions of the church’s interior andexterior, nineteenth-century trade directories make no mention of an organ in
Bennett’s local church of St Mary’s in Chedzoy, during his time.1224 However, aharmonium appeared in the churchwarden’s accounts from 1863 (needing mending inthe same year at a cost of fifteen shillings (Figure 132)).1225 Subsequent references can

1221

Ibid. p. 31.
thTwo exceptions exist in ‘Martins Lane Psalm 18 ‘and ‘Symphony Isiaha’ [sic], both in three parts.
1223
The order of parts differs in some of the hymns, even on the same page. Ben.20.1 is ordered tenor,
alto, air and bass whereas Ben.20.2 is ordered alto, tenor, air, bass.
1224
Kelly, The Post Office Directory Somerset and Devon with Bristol, p. 326 (1866); Kelly, Post OfficeDirectory Somerset and Devon with Bristol, p. 316 (1861); 'Chedzoy', Kelly's Directory of Somerset,(1889), <http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 27 April 2017].
1225
Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (I.E Full Rates) to 1829;
Church Restoration Account 1886; Vestry Minutes, 1843-1849.April 1863. Reproduced with kindpermission of the South West Heritage Trust.
1222

300

be found relating to repairs for the harmonium in 1872, and in 1892 for tuning of an‘American Organ’.1226

Figure 132 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden’s Accounts, 1863. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(D/P/chedz/4/1/2).

Prior to this entry there was no mention of payment for specific musical activity or
instruments apart from payments related to bell-ringing.1227 The metal work was often
carried out by George’s grandfather and father in the earlier years and later by George
himself (Figure 133 and Figure 134).1228

Figure 133 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden's Accounts, 1805. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(D/P/chedz/4/1/1).

Figure 134 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden's Accounts 1865. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(D/P/chedz/4/1/2).

1226

Ibid. 1892, 1872. It is possible that the churchwarden was using different names to describe thesame instrument, although the technical difference between the two is that one sucks air whearas theother blows air.
1227
thPayments exist for the bell-ringers (on 5 November and notable royal occasions), alongsidefrequent costs for replacing bell ropes and payments for mending the bells and bell wheels.
1228
Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (Rates) 1760-1819;
Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (I.E Full Rates) to 1829;
Church Restoration Account 1886; Vestry Minutes, 1843-1849. SHC D/P/chedz/ 4/1/2. Images
reproduced with kind permission of the South West Heritage Trust.

301

A gallery in the North transept of the church was removed circa 1845.1229 It is notknown if this was used by musicians, but could indicate the start of the demise of band
activities, which Bennett (born 1831), may have participated in. The introduction of theharmonium in 1863 possibly heralds the end of the church band and ties in with thedate of the secular material in Bennett’s manuscript. Dated 1860, this perhaps
demonstrates a desire to maintain playing and looking for alternative functions andrepertoire to perform. Till/Clutterbuck’s sacred material, comprising thirty-one
items,1230 is found inverted at the end of the secular material (Figure 135).1231

Figure 135 : Till/Clutterbuck MS secular tunes meet sacred, Til.56.1 – Til.57.1.

The tunes are written with titles and meter (LM, CM) and are a combination of both
treble and bass clef, frequently written in F or Bb major keys. They are mainly written
in two parts (labelled 1st and 2nd or treble and counter).1232 The former items are
written in blue/black ink and pencil, whereas the later inclusions are, like the secular
items written in black ink. These are more in line with the notational and handwriting
style of the secular items, and therefore possibly date. They are copied neatly withaligned parts suggesting a performance copy, and ‘Queensborough P M’,1233 Figure
136, suggests copying from the same source as Bennett’s.

1229

British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Chedzoy : Church', Institute of Historical
Research, University of London (2017) <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol6/pp249250#fnn53> [accessed 27 April 2017].
1230
Some of which exist more as fragments than entire psalm tunes.
1231
The meeting of secular and sacred brings to mind the preface of Under The Greenwood Tree, quoted
in full at the opening of the thesis, “…the insertions being continued from front and back till sacred andsecular met together in the middle, often with bizarre effect…” Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, p.
xxiv.
1232
st
nd
Although one exists in four parts (labelled 1 , 2 , Tenor and Bass.
1233
Compare Bennett’s third part, ‘Air’ with the top part of Till/Clutterbuck’s transcription.

302

Bennett

Figure 136 : 'Queensborough PM’ from Bennett and Till/Clutterbuck MSS.

In comparison to Bennett’s sacred items, Till/Clutterbuck’s transcriptions are simpler
and in fewer parts. Some also show a haste of transcription (especially those in pencil),and a distinct lack of musical accuracy, perhaps hurriedly copied down as a quick aidememoire prior to a hymn starting or transcribed by someone less musically literate.
Till/Clutterbuck’s manuscript includes a secular tune composed by the blind organist ofBerkeley church, Moffatt,1234 which could strengthen Till/Clutterbuck’s involvementwith a church band. Moffatt was organist two years after the date of the manuscript,
1868-1898,1235 showing that the men possibly knew each other prior to Moffatt’s
employment as organist, perhaps through a church band either in Berkeley or throughassociations with the chapelry at Stone.

1234
1235

See Til.23.1, and Chapters 3 & 5.
Clan Moffatt Genealogy, 'Andrew Marvel Moffatt'.

303

Figure 137 : ‘All Saints’, Stone, Drawn c1870. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (P315/MI/2).

Remarkably, the “recently repaired” chapelry of All Saints, at Stone (Figure 137),1236 isrecorded as having an organ in 1856.1237 This would date Till/Clutterbuck’s sacredmaterial prior to the inscribed date of the secular tunes and as the handwriting
suggests, indicates the involvement of an older person. That said, the plans for an
organ chamber in 1872,1238 and the subsequent removal of a gallery not until 1883
might suggest a continuation in band participation during church services.1239 The
churchwarden’s accounts for Stone list repairs to a gallery in 1830 and no mention isfound for costs to purchase, repair or tune organs, nor for organ blowing, thus thelisting in the Post Office Directory could be an error.
The presence of Anglican sacred music in the earlier two manuscripts suggests that the
church band tradition had existed in their locality. It is fascinating to imagine
Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett or their forefathers in such an environment. Interestingly,
Gammon cites disbandment to the early 1860s, commenting that “by the end of the1860s very few of the old style church bands and choirs existed”,1240 placing Bennett
MS (1860), and Till/Clutterbuck MS (1866),1241 still within the outer edges of
involvement in and influence by these means. Furthermore, disbandment was gradual,
and the influence of the culture surrounding it and the skills acquired would havesurvived for longer.
1236

Gloucestershire Archives, Anon Pencil Sketch of the Church at Stone, P315/MI/2 (c1870).
'Stone', p. 370 (1856).
1238
Gloucestershire Archives, Plan and Papers for Proposed Organ Chamber, P315 CW 3/2 (1872).
1239
Gloucestershire Archives, Removal of Gallery, P315/CW/3/1 (1883).
1240
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 55.
1241
It is possible that the MS date in Till/Clutterbuck refers to the secular music (based on where thedate is written), thus possibly dating the sacred material to well within the period of church bands.
1237

304

Hampton’s Nonconformist religious music may relate back to family preferences as aboy in Blaisdon, as a Baptist minister is recorded as holding services in his house inBlaisdon from 1844.1242 However, Blaisdon’s parish church of ‘St Michael and All
Angels’, was relevant in Hampton’s childhood as close members of his family wereburied there (including his mother), and it was the place he and his siblings werebaptised.1243 Furthermore, Hampton’s first child was baptised in the Anglican parish
church of Holmer.1244 Hence it is useful to look for involvement of his ancestors in achurch band there, and consequently a potential route for musical skills and/or
literacy.
The church of ‘St Michael and All Angels’ in Blaisdon is listed as having an organ in
1879,1245 although it is not clear when it was installed. The churchwarden’s accounts
would suggest 1869 as from this date references start to appear relating to organ
blowing and tuning. The first mention of an organ (Figure 138),1246 is dated 1869 anddetails an annual payment of ten shilling to R Cook for Organ Blowing:

Figure 138 : Extract from Blaisdon’s Churchwarden’s Accounts 1869. Photo: R Dellow. Source: Gloucestershire
Archives (P49/CW/2/1).

As this post-dates Hampton’s time in the village it might suggest the use of churchbands during his childhood. Furthermore, there is reference to the thirteenth-century
West Gallery,1247 possibly knocked down in 1867 when the church was rebuilt, due toits “dilapidated condition”, and a “new Aisle, Vestry Room and Organ Chamber” were

1242

British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Blaisdon : Nonconformity', Institute of Historical
Research, University of London (2017) <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol10/p10> [accessed
17 April 2017].
1243'Thomas Hampton', Baptism Record for Thomas Hampton, 1844 (Gloucestershire Archives;
Gloucester, England; Gdr/V1/410) <http://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 27 April 2017].
1244
See Chapter 2.
1245'Blaisdon', Kelly's Directory, (1879), <http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/resources/kelly-sdirectory-1879/41-blaisdon> [accessed 27 April 2017].
1246
Gloucestershire Archives, Churchwardens' Accounts and Vestry Minutes, P49/CW/2/1 (1820-1874).
1247
British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Blaisdon : Church', Institute of Historical
Research, University of London (2017) <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol10/pp9-10#fnn36>[accessed 17 April 2017].

305

built.1248 Sadly none of the records has reference to payments to a church band or
mention of any Hampton family members.
Nonconformist Churches
Social, moral and spiritual support could also be found in chapels,1249 and Ainsworth
describes how adults could gain an education through involvement in the chapel’s lay
work, which in turn they could pass down to their children.1250 Adults’ literacy levels
were further influenced by the Nonconformist religious institutions that were
supportive of self-improvement: “all Nonconformist sects encouraged the habits ofclose reading, interpretive analysis, and intellectual self-improvement”.1251
Chapels would also have provided a place to hear music and possibly participate,
perhaps accounting for the inclusion of Hampton’s Nonconformist hymns,1252 andthere is also evidence to suggest that musical skills could be acquired in chapels. 1253
Gammon noted a “large scale defections [sic] to the Methodists”,1254 in Little
Walsingham which he attributes in part to a backlash to the introduction of the organand subsequent disbandment of the church bands. As such, existing musical literacy
and skill would be shared across denominations. Furthermore, a strong current ofeducation, literacy and self-improvement existed in the Methodists, and Russell notesthat “Methodism and music became synonymous”.1255 Hence a direct link emerges
between music and self-improvement giving a plausible means and motivation forworking-class compilers to emerge.
More detailed information on Hampton’s Nonconformist denominational preference ishard to obtain, although family tradition would suggest Baptist.1256 Hereford was the1248

Gloucestershire Archives, Vestry Minutes, P49 CW 3/1 (1866).
Ainsworth corroborates this point regarding chapel attendance in Lancashire, suggesting economic,
political, educational and recreational motives alongside religious.
1250
Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', p. 370.
1251
Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, p. 34.
1252
For example see Ham.10.3, Ham.10.4, Ham.12.1, and Ham.12.
1253
Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', p. 369.
1254
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 63.
1255
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 189.
1256
Thomas’ son, Andrew was married at Frogmore Baptist Chapel in Abergavenny in 1902 and his son(my grandfather) and my father both followed in the Baptist tradition. 'Andrew Hampton', Certified Copyof Marriage Certificate for Andrew Hampton and Louisa Probert, 18 September 1902 (Application
Number 94: Monmouth, 27 April 2004).
1249

306

home to many Nonconformist or ‘dissenting’ chapels and meeting places, and a Baptist
chapel can be found in Commercial Road,1257 neighbouring Hampton’s Bath Street. The
Zion Baptist Chapel was constructed in 1837 on land purchased by a group of local
Baptists, one of whom was the music seller Ebenezer Child.1258 The chapel’s
membership consisted of a cross-section of society, including labourers, shoemakers,
an accountant and a sergeant in the Royal Marines.1259
Sunday Schools
Both Anglican and Nonconformist Sunday Schools were fundamental in leading theway for a national school system to educate all children especially those from theworking classes. Ainsworth notes that “much of the initiative behind the Sunday
schools was due to the Methodists, who made extensive efforts to reach a section of
the population for whom educational provision had hitherto been negligable [sic]”.1260
Sykes’ research shows that in 1858, sixty percent of five-to-fifteen-year-olds attended
a Sunday School of any denomination.1261
Sunday Schools provided access to a basic education yet there were limitations to theeducation provided. The focus appears to have been on reading,1262 rather thanwriting and moreover, the reading of religious material.1263 Altick cautions overestimation at the “number of literates” produced by Sunday Schools, as attendance
was only once a week and not all participants were eager.1264 The early Sunday Schools
appear to have been strict and forbidding places, and Altick quotes an oral narrative ofan old man, talking in 1863 who recalled:

1257'Hereford', Post Office Directory of Herefordshire, 1856, (1856), (p. 44)<http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk> [accessed 4 April 2017].
1258
See above.
1259
Andronikos Excavating Grey Literature, 'Relation Extraction - Crm-Eh Annotations Report Title 49-53
Commercial Road, Hereford: Desk-Based Assessment'.
1260
Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', p. 362.
1261
Sykes, 'The Evolution of Englishness in the English Folksong Revival, 1890-1914', p. 455.
1262
Ibid.
1263
Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', p. 370. Rose, The Intellectual
Life of the British Working Classes, p. 19.
1264
Altick, The English Common Reader, p. 68.

307

some turrible [sic] bad chaps went to school when I first went…I know theparents of one or two of them used to walk them to school with 14-lb. weights
tied to their legs…to keep them from running away.1265
Rose states that Sunday Schools were the only place offering working people“opportunities for serious musical education, performance and composition”.1266
However, from the evidence I have found, musical provision in Sunday Schools took
the form of vocal instruction. Mackerness describes the instruction in Sunday Schools
in the early 1840s as taught “chiefly by poorly equipped teachers who encouraged thechildren to imitate them in singing hymns and psalms by ear”.1267 Following that, theSol-fa system was introduced. Hullah’s 1841 school in Exeter Hall, London,1268 used theSol-fa system, alongside Curwen’s variation (a Congregationalist Minister), who wassearching for a “suitable method for teaching music simply to Sunday-school
choirs”.1269
It is clear that Sunday Schools had an influence on the basic education of working-classpeople within a musical environment, and offered some teaching in music, chiefly
vocal and via Sol-fa. However, this method is not seen in the manuscripts, suggesting it
was not the direct route of musical acquisition for the case-study compilers. That said,
Sunday School could have been a plausible route for general literacy for Bennett (andthus a gateway to musical literacy). Apart from Chedzoy’s fee-paying schools (whichwere shut by 1843), the only educational provision available to Bennett was throughthe Sunday school, “supported by the Minister and Lord of the Manor”.1270 Several
references were made in the churchwarden’s accounts in 1822 and 1823 listing
significant expenditure to purchase books for the Sunday School (Figure 139).1271

1265

Ibid. p. 67.
Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, p. 196.
1267
Mackerness, A Social History of English Music, p. 154.
1268
Pearsall, Victorian Popular Music, p. 113.
1269
Mackerness, A Social History of English Music, p. 157.
1270
House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Volume 41 and 42 : Education Enquiry p. 799.
1271
Somerset Heritage Centre, Chedzoy Parish Records Accounts with "Receipts" (Rates) 1760-1819.
1822. SHC D/P/chedz/4/1/1. Reproduced with kind permission of the South West Heritage Trust.
1266

308

Figure 139 : Extract from Chedzoy Churchwarden’s Accounts, 1822. Photo: R Dellow. Source: SHC(D/P/chedz/4/1/1).

The Sunday School opened in 1820, with thirty-six boys and thirty-seven girls in
attendance in 1835,1272 and it is possible that Bennett made up part of that number,aged four. In 1843 (when Bennett would have been aged twelve), ninety children
attended the Sunday School reducing to seventy-seven by 1846.1273 Despite extensive
searching for records, no extant Sunday School records for Chedzoy were found.
Although there is no evidence to show that Hampton acquired his skills from
Nonconformist Sunday Schools, I believe he was influenced by a movement strongly
supported by the Nonconformists: the self-improvement or autodidactic movement,
discussed below. Furthermore, I believe it is the most likely environment from which
many mid-late-nineteenth-century low to middle working-class compilers gained theirmusical literacy and skill and possibly general literacy too.
Autodidactic
The autodidactic movement was a massive part of the cultural and social make-up ofVictorian England in the latter half of the nineteenth-century. Not only did the
autodidactic ‘revolution’ amongst the lower classes teach literacy skills which it isgenerally considered were lacking, there is also evidence that opportunities wereavailable to learn new musical skill. This existed both in the form of playing an
instrument and also reading and writing musical notation, alongside lectures andconcerts and providing a stage on which to perform.
As with the reading skills taught in Sunday Schools, the Victorians’ considerable desire
for knowledge and the subsequent self-improvement movement could serve as agateway to musical learning. Yet music itself was part of the self-teaching ethos and

1272
1273

House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Volume 41 and 42 : Education Enquiry p. 799.
British History Online from Victoria County History, 'Chedzoy : Education'.

309

the various self-improvement clubs would have enabled adult working men to acquire
direct musical skill and musical literacy through self-education.
Many of the activities were self-generated rather than officially run by higher classes
or the village elite and as such there is little evidence recorded of its history, especiallyat the more informal end of the scale. Despite giving no statistical information, Altick,talking specifically about Mutual Improvement Clubs, claims that based on memoirs,“it appears that hardly a village was without one such group, and usually there wereseveral”,1274 suggesting these were not merely an urban undertaking. Rose describes
them as effectively “a friendly society devoted to education”,1275 citing theirdemographic as “working men aged twenty to thirty-nine”,1276 strikingly similar to thecompilers’ demographic. Rose describes the different activities, ranging fromorganised societies, to informal self-schooling programmes with “a half dozen to ahundred men from both the working and lower-middle classes who met
periodically…”,1277 participating not just in adult schools but “reading circles, dramatic
societies, and musical groups”.1278
At an even more informal end of the scale, Rose quotes Chartist, Lowery, detailing an
informal culture in the pubs of nineteenth-century Newcastle,1279 conjuring up imagesof like-minded musicians sharing and learning both instrumental skill and notational
skill, perhaps poring over a borrowed printed tunebook and learning the skills to maketheir own copy. Thompson provides similar evidence of different locations for different
disciplines: “Every weaving district had its weaver-poets, biologists, mathematicians,
musicians”.1280
Subscription Reading Rooms gave classes in subjects too, with the teaching shared by
the members or by “professional teachers who volunteered their services”.1281 The
Working Men’s Club and Institute Union, although predominantly social, nearly all had
1274

Altick, The English Common Reader, p. 205.
Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, p. 58.
1276
Ibid. p. 78.
1277
Ibid. p. 58.
1278
Ibid.
1279
“Every branch of knowledge had its public-house where its disciples met…There was a house were
the singers and musicians met – a house where the speculative and free thinking met…” ibid. p. 38.
1280
E P Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, 4th edn, (London: Penguin Books, 1991), p.
322.
1281
Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, p. 65.
1275

310

libraries and held classes.1282 By the mid-century, the Mechanics’ Institute had become“a recognised part of the educational scene, not only in the industrial cities but in ruralmarket towns and even in quite small hamlets”.1283 They had libraries, perhaps
containing music books in addition to traditional literature and most interestingly forthis study, list music, “both vocal and instrumental”,1284 as appearing on the curriculumof the larger Mechanics’ Institutes, quite possibly a source for the compilers. Gammon
and Russell cite such institutions as providing actual instrumental classes,1285 in “theform of cheap class lessons”.1286 Russell lists “part-time teachers, usually musically
inclined clerks and skilled manual workers who swelled their income by giving lessons
for as little as 3d an hour to the aspiring amateurs of the neighbourhood”.1287
This advertisement (Figure 140), dating from 1857 provides details and it is interesting
to note the aspirational connection with the ‘ladies’’ Drawing-room genre:

Figure 140 : Extract from Saunders’s [sic] Newsletter, 1857. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED.

As earlier research showed, six pence a week is quite an expense for the lower end of
the compiler demographic and suggests they would have participated in more informal
auto-didactic events.
An educational relationship between a skilled manual worker and an aspiring amateur,shown above, puts forward a plausible explanation for the association between
Soobroy and Hampton, advocating some informal or formal self-improvement throughthe initial nine pedagogic and popular items (Ham.1.1-Ham.3.2). These are written in

1282

Ibid. p. 79.
Mackerness, A Social History of English Music, p. 148.
1284
Ibid.
1285
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 288.
1286
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 172.
1287
Ibid.
1283

311

Soobroy’s neater and possibly more educated hand and further strengthen theargument that Hampton acquired at least some of his skill via the auto-didactic route.
Evidence has already been given of Soobroy leading a String Band, and he wastherefore a capable musician.1288 Despite working as a brush maker at the time of themanuscript,1289 by 1891 he was a bugler for the Shropshire Light Infantry,1290 andfollowing his discharge in 1897,1291 worked as a “violinist/music” in 1901.1292 This
career did not last as by 1911 he was working as a carter.1293
In Ham.1.1 (Figure 141), not only are Soobroy’s writing and notation skills neater,
appearing far more educated, controlled and advanced than Hampton’s but areperhaps indicative of his better technical skill too. If Soobroy was using the manuscript
to teach Hampton, then the later addition of octave doubling below the melody(written in darker ink compared to the ink on the rest of the page), might show that
Hampton was not quite as technically advanced on the violin. In this section, themelody extends beyond the reach of a violinist’s normal hand position and would
require either a 4th finger extension to reach the high ‘c’ or, more likely a change ofhand position into 3rd position. This requires a higher level of technical skill, hence theinclusion of a lower octave as an option for a player who is not so advanced. That said,
it is possible that the manuscript belonged solely to Soobroy at this point, and themarkings were added for his own use.

Figure 141 : Ham.1.1.
1288'Gymnastic Display'.
'Walter Soobroy', 1871 England Census Return; 'Walter Soobroy', 1881 England Census Return.
1290'Walter Soohry', 1891 England Census Return England Census Return (The National Archives of the
UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Class: RG12; Piece: 2062; Folio: 79; Page: 5),<https://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 June 2018].
1291'Walter Soobroy', Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admissions and Discharges, 1715-1925 England
Census Return (Royal Hospital Chelsea: Length of Service Pensions, Admission Books; Class: WO 117;
Piece Number: 51), <https://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 June 2018].
1292'Walter Svobrory', 1901 England Census Return England Census Return (Class: RG13; Piece: 2481;
Folio: 86; Page: 26), <https://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 June 2018].
1293'Walter Soobroy', 1911 England Census Return England Census Return (Class: RG14; Piece: 15710;
Schedule Number: 168), <https://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 4 June 2018].
1289

312

Further pedagogic evidence can be seen in Ham.2.3 (a D major scale detailing 3rd
position fingering in the higher register), and Ham.2.4 (a bowing and intonation scalic
exercise).1294
It is impossible to say whether Soobroy’s instruction was limited to musical literacy, if
indeed it were at all, or if Hampton was also receiving instrumental lessons (or indeed
general literacy), in this way. Hampton’s subsequent notation and transcriptions areperhaps too accurate and fluid to suggest Soobroy alone was Hampton’s only access tomusical literacy and technical skill. He had possibly acquired some musical competence
before compiling the manuscript, perhaps as a youth in Gloucestershire. That said, I
strongly believe that his connection with Soobroy, combined with urban location, lowclass status, Nonconformist religious music and later date all point towards the autodidactic movement having a part to play in Hampton’s route to acquire or improve
both musical literacy and skill.

Conclusion
Part 2 of this chapter has shown that general literacy was more widespread amongst
working classes than is largely perceived, and that general or musical illiteracy cannot
be assumed based purely on socio-economic status. Schools did not emerge as theimmediate source for instrumental teaching, and likely routes for musical education
were via home and church environments, although direct evidence of the former ishard to establish. Whether through family members at home or through a moreorganised assimilation as members of a late church band I believe the older, rural
manuscripts of Till/Clutterbuck and Bennett, with the remnants of church bands
echoing in their content, show their vehicle of acquisition to be through the legacy ofthe church band tradition. This may be indirectly, via informal teaching or assimilation
by family and elders through participation in village and church musical activities. Theirskills were then nurtured and perhaps developed by involvement with a village band.
It also becomes clear that the largely undocumented societies and informal groups
making up the self-improvement movement had a profound effect on the lives andeducation of working men and provide a strong suggestion of how and where these
men were capable of acquiring musical literacy and technical ability. In Hampton’s
1294

See Appendix A.

313

case, he compiles at a later date than the other two and from an urban andNonconformist standpoint and it is possible that this new route to skill acquisition or
improvement is reflected in his manuscript. I believe he is a product, in part, of themutual improvement movement, and his ability to learn, access, play and preservemusic was influenced by Victorian cultural and social movements emerging frommetropolitan centres. Whilst his technical skill and some tune melodies may have beenacquired as a boy, the opportunity of self-improvement in his urban setting and thepedagogic associations with Soobroy, suggest this was a viable route for him to acquireor improve his musical literacy skills and either improve or learn to play the violin.
Thus, the case-studies show that despite emanating from largely rural and modest
financial backgrounds with unreliable access to education, the compilers were able toobtain musical resources and skills resulting in a consistent hetrogeneous and chiefly
contemporary repertoire accross all the manuscripts regardless of age or environment.
Furthermore, two clear strands of skill acquisition emerge. These strands do appear to
be related to both age of manuscript and environment and reflect the dichotomy
which re-emerges throughout in the thesis: between the modern and popular andhistoric and traditional and can crudely be defined as a traditional and rural routeversus an urban, more modern route. This binary route shows the older manuscripts
with rural and Anglican links had access to source their skills from traditional routes ofassimilation at home and educated by elders; whilst the newer, urban andNonconformist example possibly represented aspects of contemporary education
techniques via the autodidactic movement.

314

Chapter 7 – Conclusions
Responding to the Research Questions
My research set out to ascertain how mid-late-nineteenth-century Fiddlers’ Tunebooks
fit in notions of folk music tradition. Six specific research questions were drawn up to
focus the investigation. The initial area of examination, responding to the first researchquestion, centred on the people responsible for compiling the manuscripts. The image
conjured up by modern ideas of the ‘folk’ is one of ‘ordinary’ men.1295 Similarly,
inherited views suggest rural, humble, village musicians.1296 These images are partiallyreflected in the findings. The wider survey conducted in Chapter 2 concluded that atypical manuscript compiler was a young married man living in a rural environmentand coming from the lower occupational classes. This closely complied with the casestudy manuscript compilers who were found to be young, married (or soon to be wed),
working-class men. Two of the men were rural and wider issues of environment
showed that their rurality did not impact their ability to access the metropolitan
sources, resulting in an analogous repertoire regardless of environment. However,their location did appear to have an impact on the route by which skills were acquired.
The few scholars who have approached the manuscript archive noted theheterogeneous repertoire as opposed to a content comprised of chiefly historic
tunes,1297 and in answer to the third research question the evidence from my researchcompellingly validates a similar musicological content. Content from a wide range ofgenres, sources and periods exists in the manuscripts, including historic tunes andsongs, contemporary song and dance melodies, arrangements of art music, religious
and pedagogic items. Contemporary popular dance and song melodies dominated therepertoire, and the analysis indicated a strong preference for hornpipes, waltzes anddance tunes making up quadrille sets.
Responding to the fourth research question, examination of the manuscripts and thesubsequent investigation into the sources revealed that textual transmission, rather

1295

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27.
Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), p. 3.
1297
Gammon, 'Manuscript Sources of Traditional Dance Music in Southern England', p. 60. Campbell,'Reconsidering and Contextualising the Vernacular Tradition: Popular Music and British Manuscript
Compilations (1650-2000)', p. 140.
1296

315

than aural transmission was key with regards to direct inward transmission into themanuscripts. The overriding extent to which copying and textual sources played a partin compiling the manuscripts became evident which aligned with transmission
arguments made in the folk song field.1298 However, despite direct inward transmission
indicating textual influence, initial exposure of the compiler to a melody could havebeen via aural means.
Investigating that the tunes were being copied, led to the discovery of potential
sources from which the compilers were drawing their tunes. This revealed a mass ofprinted publications of ‘cheap’ works aimed at amateur instrumentalists. These
collections were found to be specifically applicable to the manuscript archive, being
single stave, monophonic instrumental music covering a wide range of genres andspecific styles such as country dances, national airs and dances, popular song, religious
and operatic items, minstrel songs, quadrilles, polkas and waltzes.
The discovery of these sources was especially important in being able to define themanuscript archive as representing an autonomous literate, instrumental musicalpractice. Of additional importance was the indication from the manuscripts that a
handful of publishers were key in this culture. The chief ones shown to influence thecase-studies were Chappell, Hopwood and Crew, Charles Sheard and his publishingarm of MB.
The extent of this published music and its crossover with the manuscripts’ repertoire,
coupled with the discovery of actual direct sources, revealed that even the historic
tunes were not directly transmitted into the manuscripts via oral/aural transmission orolder printed publications, such as printed dance tune collections. Instead these tunes
also emanated from the printed, contemporary, ‘up to the minute’ music market.
With regards to outward transmission, examined as part of the fifth research question,
research into the breadth of content suggested a participatory function showing
potential involvement in formal social dances with a stronger preference for informal
dances, amateur concerts and pub gatherings and for personal recreation at home.
The number of hornpipes in the manuscripts indicated the accompaniment ofexhibition step-dancing although a clear perceivable function for hornpipes within
1298

Atkinson, 'Folk Songs in Print: Text and Tradition'.

316

social dance could not be found. This resulted in the idea that hornpipes (and indeed
the inclusion of other items such as popular and national song and operatic excerpts),
had an aesthetic role (performed for the enjoyment of the music by the player and/or
audience, rather than to accompany another function such as dance). Some items inrepertoire and instrumentation hinted at involvement with, or influence by, moreformalised bands, such as town or village bands or local voluntary militia bands. All
three manuscripts suggested potential religious involvement to a certain degree, withthe compilers’ environment and manuscripts’ age showing denominational
preferences.
The function of the manuscripts as artefacts (rather than the function of themusicians), gave both financial and personal advantages. The manuscripts werecheaper than print and allowed the selection of one’s own repertoire. Their medium as
handwritten collections suggests that the compilers found it more advantageous totranscribe and read music to learn and preserve (and perhaps perform), theirrepertoire than memorising.
Having established that the compilers were ‘ordinary’ men from the lower
occupational classes and largely from rural environments became an importantconsideration when responding to the second research question to ascertain how andfrom where they acquired the skills and resources to facilitate creating a personal tune
repository. The levels of literacy in nineteenth-century working-classes were found tobe higher than perceived although musical literacy transcription skills could have been
exaggerated due to the transmission method. However given the labour-intensive taskof copying I felt that the ability to read the music and have musical technical skill inorder to reproduce the tunes was implicit. The manuscripts were working copies as
opposed to prestigious collections and without the ready skills to read and play thecontent, it would be futile to expend the immense time and effort involved in creatingsuch a repository.
Several potential routes to acquire musical literacy and skills are possible. In the casestudies a correlation between the compilers’ environment, religious denomination,
age of manuscript and the route of skill acquisition emerged and appeared chiefly (butnot exclusively), to derive from two routes: via an Anglican church tradition and home317

for rural dwellers and possibly a stronger reliance on the auto-didactic route andNonconformist churches for the urban compiler, alongside more traditional methods.
This was also reflected in the age of the manuscripts, the earlier two being rural
examples whilst the later manuscript came from an urban environment. The anomaly
regarding all compilers’ supposed illiteracy gave a fascinating insight into nineteenthcentury working-class attitudes to outward displays of intellect and was found to
throw doubt on those statistics which rely on marriage certificate signatures to judge
nineteenth-century literacy levels.
Access to the printed sources which formed the essential core of the manuscripts’
content was possible by borrowing copies of music as opposed to purchasing. This wasevident by the clustering layout and hasty transcription of some tunes, the scarcity ofsurviving printed copy and the lack of affordability to purchase print. It was interestingthat religious denomination, environment and age of manuscript did not affect theaccess to resources, a similar heterogeneous and contemporarily sourced content
being found in all three case-studies. Despite exploring the possibilities of borrowing
copies from friends and self-improvement establishments, the existence of a credible‘service’ or establishment was discovered, via a contemporary newspaper
advertisement known as Musical Circulating Libraries. This wide-spread facility, offeredby both local independent individuals and national publishing giants, potentially playeda large role in supplying the compilers with an affordable, ‘up to date’ repertoire ofprinted music from which to copy.

Paradigmatic of Folk Music Tradition?
Acknowledging the “false dichotomy between tradition and modernity as fixed andmutually exclusive states”,1299 suggests the manuscripts represent a strand ofvernacular nineteenth-century popular music making that may or may not be
considered as part of folk music tradition. A critical enquiry running throughout thethesis has been to establish how well the musical practice represented by themanuscripts fits into notions of folk music tradition. I approached the question from abinary perspective of both current academic argument and received history due to theinterest generated by the manuscripts amongst enthusiasts in the twentieth- and

1299

Handler and Linnekin, 'Tradition, Genuine or Spurious', p. 273.

318

twenty-first-century folk music field who ascribe in part or entirely to the set of
behaviours defined in an inherited definition.
From a received perspective, the evidence from the manuscripts is frequently contrary
to inherited expectations. From the outset, the tunebooks’ textual medium inherently
opposes the notion of orality/aurality. Likewise, the thesis has shown that themanuscripts contain a broad range of content which is not exclusively made up of
historic tunes and instead is dominated by popular contemporary music. The tunes,
whether historic or modern, are coming into the manuscripts directly fromcontemporary textual sources, not historic sources and as such, do not represent
direct oral/aural transmission. Furthermore, the potential role of the publishers in
influencing the repertoire could imply a ‘top’ down approach rather than organic
development including selection and continuity. The compilers themselves, althoughsubscribing to the rural, working-class male characteristics were literate and younger
than the inherited view of folk music only existing “in the minds and voices of theelderly non-literate”,1300 folk.
However, positioning the manuscripts within the framework of modern scholarly
discourse reveals different results. As the product of, and generating interest amongst
the ‘ordinary’ man, the musical practice represented by the manuscripts fits well intomodern scholarly arguments. This thesis provides strong evidence to support textual
transmission from contemporary printed sources as the means of direct transfer of thematerial into the manuscripts. Although the manuscripts’ lack of direct dependence on
orality/aurality, in a received view would thwart their place in folk music tradition, it
does not encumber their inclusion by modern scholarly standards.
When viewed through the lens of a process of tradition the heterogeneous material
found in the Fiddlers’ Tunebooks is very much part of the formation of folk music
tradition.1301 Previous definitions surrounding folk music may have tried to ignore the1300

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 27. See also Sharp, English Folk Song, Some Conclusions (1907), pp. 3-

4.

1301

I set out at the beginning that the manuscripts may not represent tunes played by the compilers andperhaps instead were tunes they intended to learn. Even if this is the case, the manuscripts can still beviewed as part of a formation of tradition as they still show the selection and survival up to the point
they are in the manuscripts, even if they were not subsequently learnt. Additionally, in order to be
selected from print they are likely to be in common currency regardless of whether the compiler himself
played that specific tune.

319

popular nature or eclectic mix of the repertoire but that has diminished in modern
scholarly thought, and both the historic and contemporary tunes can have a place intradition defined by process. The historic tunes could be said to have survived throughprevious generations and been selected by the compilers and as such are part of folk
music tradition. The popular, contemporaneous ‘tunes of the day’, however, are not in
the manuscripts because they survived and passed through the process to become
part of a tradition. They are too modern, too contemporaneous for the process to haveoccurred. Yet they are an important part of the process as potential ‘embryonic’ folk
tunes. They may ‘become’ folk tunes in subsequent repertoires. As such, these tunes
are also part of the process of folk music tradition and the manuscripts play aninteresting and important role: they provide a synchronic capture of the ‘process of
tradition’, at work. Roud’s ‘sausage machine’ analogy, whereby any song can enter“and if it is not spat out as unsuitable, it emerges at the other end as a clearly different
kind of song”,1302 is important. Because of their textual nature, the manuscripts
preserve an image of the inside of Roud’s sausage machine.
Paradoxically, it is the manuscripts’ historic tunes which are more problematic. As
suggested above, on a superficial level they could be taken as representative of alreadyhaving passed through the selection process. However, the printed sources from which
they came have been shown to be contemporary and the selection process dominatedby publishers. As such two major issues emerge which were explored in Chapter 4,
regarding survival and selection: the notion of ‘skipping’ generations instigating arevival rather than survival and the importance of the ‘folks’’ role in the selection
process. Although no major social discontinuity was observed, unless the publishers’
motivations can be established as being either commercially led or (akin to the earlytwentieth-century folk song collectors), specifically aimed to re-connect with the past,
the notion becomes unstable.
This central chapter introduced the vital importance of the interaction between
literate and aural/oral practices. Using all three of the literate compilers’ unsigned
marriage certificates, I showed that assumptions made regarding literacy levels basedon marriage certificate signage were incorrect. In the same way, assumptions cannot

1302

Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 671.

320

be made on the reliance of textual inward transmission as the initial source oftransmission. It is feasible that both the historic and modern tunes, although sourced
directly from contemporary publishers’ print, had initially come into the ears, minds
and eyes of the folk themselves through earlier print or manuscript sources (in thecase of the historic tunes), or by non-textual means. As such, the inward transmission
was not necessarily controlled by publishers or showing a hiatus in survival, and at the
point they are found in the manuscripts, the tunes could be said to form part of folk
music tradition.
The interaction between oral/aural and literate is important with regards outward
transmission too. The idea of ‘reading’ music during a performance lends itself more
towards a formal, structured concert and distances itself from informal, sociable,
domestic, participatory involvement for personal pleasure and expression. It is thisinformal, personal and amateur nature of outward transmission, as opposed to aformal ‘concert’ which shapes the perception of inclusion in folk music tradition. The
textual nature of the manuscripts may then distance them from being considered aspart of folk music tradition. However, Chapter 5 determined that the performance
space or function from the manuscripts tended towards the informal, additionally it
could not be determined how dependent the compilers were on the manuscripts at
the point of performance. There is little evidence to suggest that outward transmission
was via textual means rather than aural means and assumptions should not be madethat the manuscripts’ existence inevitably results in textual use during performance.
Thus, the combination of all these factors leads me to argue that the manuscripts areimportant artefacts demonstrating an aspect of Victorian popular music making andwhich have an important role in showing the formation of English folk music tradition.
It is only through modern scholarly models centring on the process of tradition, rather
than tradition defined by origin, that the manuscripts can be seen to have this role.
There is some irony that the manuscripts have been received into a current folk music‘tradition’ and yet the received historical definition with which they come, is largely
contrary to the story the manuscripts tell. Unless present-day folk music enthusiasts’(the manuscripts’ current custodians), perceptions of what constitutes folk music
tradition can be changed, the manuscripts are constantly vulnerable to mediation andthe ‘burden of expectation’. Given the manuscripts’ inconsistency with an inherited321view, the manuscripts could obtain a more receptive and balanced approach within
the field of popular music studies. That said, despite popular music covering aspects ofthe manuscripts’ contents such as musichall and minstrel song, the archive as a whole
does not, as yet, appear to be fully embraced by scholars from that field. That popular
music is currently unaware of, or chooses to disregard the archive or this style ofmusic, as does the wider nineteenth-century musicology discipline, results in the
manuscripts, their contents, musicians and source material falling between the cracks
of several domains and suffering from an ambiguity of definition.

Further Conclusions
Aside from enabling direct responses to the research questions, the thesis discussed
key themes which emerged. One recurring theme was that of the binary value of themanuscripts as historical sources informing both musicological and non-musicologicallevels. Musicologically, the manuscripts were able to inform as primary resources on a
topic which has had little academic attention and which, because of the status of its
informants, audience and participants and the informal nature of its content was notoften preserved in the historical record. The manuscripts are able to give an insight
into nineteenth-century popular musical tastes, technical ability, culture and activities
previously reliant on oral narrative and non-musical archival research. They add to theresources available to those studying other aspects of nineteenth-century music suchas the sheet-music trade. This wider impact validates the manuscripts beyond theirrole as a personal repository to a primary and important resource.
Secondly, as historical artefacts, the manuscripts hold vital information regarding nonmusical aspects of nineteenth-century culture. This raises the significance of themanuscripts beyond an exclusively musical domain and into wider social and cultural
history disciplines. They enable us to observe unwritten cultural and social rules, andtheir value as important English historical primary sources increases whilst
consequently destabilising research on nineteenth-century literacy levels.
Furthermore, evidence of wider social and cultural movements, in the form of religious
and autodidactic practices, are visible, strengthening their use as historical artefacts.
Accordingly, the manuscripts should be considered as a valuable primary source in the
broader field of nineteenth-century history.

322

Perhaps their most significant role as artefacts is their survival when compared to theprinted sources which they replicate, discussed in Chapters 2 and 4. If it were not forthese manuscripts, the extent of these musicians’ repertoires would be skewed. 1303
The repertoire of ‘ear-playing’ nineteenth-century amateur musicians was open to
mediation by collectors hunting out and selecting historic tunes from their repertoire
and as such may not be wholly representative.1304 Similarly, many of the contemporary
tunes and songs do not exist in modern collections such as TTA, nor are they easily
accessible in the original, printed publications and it is only through the manuscriptsthat we are re-acquainted with this repertoire. Even those which are preserved in BL
are not representative of the printed collections in their entirety as my personalcollection proves.
There is an element of irony that despite having been published and printed, it is notdirectly via that seemingly stable medium that the tunes have survived and been
passed down to us. Without these manuscripts, our knowledge of a mid-latenineteenth-century amateur, vernacular, instrumental musical practice, itsparticipants, repertoire and sources, would be lacking. Without these manuscript
sources, there is a danger that an entire chapter in the historiography of nineteenthcentury English music would be omitted.

Original Contribution to Knowledge
Many areas of my work, such as the content repertoire and transmission method havebeen beneficial to the field of study in their role to substantiate and strengthen work
done by other scholars. In other areas, my work has revealed hypotheses and factual
evidence whereby I am able to add an original contribution to a field, whether thisfield is the domain of folk music, popular music or part of the wider musicologicaldiscipline.
Both Partington,1305 and Russell,1306 highlight that the mid-late-nineteenth-century
monophonic instrumental music is understudied and so my research contributes to1303

Perhaps this should read ‘even more skewed when added to our ignorance of the musicians’
unwritten repertoire’.
1304
See discussion in Chapter 1 and Atkinson, 'Revival: Genuine or Spurious?', p. 145.
1305
“Nevertheless I cannot emphasise enough it has not been well studied from our point of view andmaterial such as you describe will be a valuable part of the story in the future”. Partington, Email.
1306
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 181.

323

furthering awareness of the post-1850 manuscripts and their printed sources. By
confronting the contentious subject of the manuscripts in relation to folk music
tradition and observing them as representative of an autonomous musical practice will
hopefully relieve some of the weight of expectation and allow them to be studied
more objectively.
Specifically relating to the post-1850 manuscripts, I have identified the narrow range
and type of sources used by the compilers and recognised that even the manuscripts’
older material was emanating from contemporary sources. My research has alsoestablished the demographic of these compilers, highlighting their place in vernacularsociety especially amongst young men from lower occupation classes. I have dispelled
a rural/urban divide with regards to musical styles in the post-1850 manuscripts, but
identified a potential religious and environmental impact on the route that skills wereacquired, and highlighted a connection between the musical practice and thenineteenth-century auto-didactic movement.
I have argued that the compilers were borrowing their sources and my investigation
has led to the awareness of Musical Circulating Libraries, re-introducing them intocurrent musicological discourse. Furthermore, the examination into the marriage
certificate signatures has importantly revealed instability in the statistical methods ofliterary historians in using this method to assess literacy levels. Similarly, this has
shown a subtle interaction between literacy and orality/aurality which cannot be easily
perceived outside the social and cultural milieu in which it existed. As such, theimportant role the manuscripts play as a primary resource in wider musicological andnon-musicological disciplines has been exposed.

Limitations and Areas for Future Study
I am aware that by looking at only three manuscripts in depth I have been unable tostate outright that they are wholly representative of the post-1850 archive, although asuperficial examination of other manuscripts suggests that they are indeed
representative. Additionally, I have been troubled by elements of subjectivity andlimitations regarding classification. Moreover, with regards to the lack of
substantiating evidence in the historical record, we have no reassurances that thesurviving manuscripts tell us the entire story or if their very existence may skew what324

we believe to be true. The survival of these specific sources and the motivation fortranscription may be due to their uniqueness rather than the norm, and I would
recommend further research on the under-researched manuscript archive as a whole,comparable with the wider survey carried out in Chapter 2.
Limitations of scope were felt with regards to MCLs, which, once they and theirpotential role within this musical culture was discovered, warranted a research projecton them alone, which would have gone beyond the parameters set by this project.
Therefore, I strongly propose that MCLs are worthy of future study, alongside buildingon the work I have started, considering the role that the auto-didactic movement playson the manuscript archive.
Another major limitation was the difficulty in locating manuscript tune sources both ata higher level in the absence of a collated archive or catalogue of budget instrumental
music books aimed at the amateur market; and on a more detailed level. Unlike theindividual piano music sheets, which are traceable by title in archival catalogues, thedirect sources are part of larger music book collections. The contents of these are notlisted, not only in the catalogues, but frequently in the music books themselves,
making research into the contents and tunes somewhat haphazard and incredibly
time-consuming. Although the piano music sheets share much of the same repertoireas the instrumentalists they exist as a single entity and as such are immeasurablyeasier to search.1307
The sheer number of printed tune publications compounds research problems and I
would recommend a thorough investigation into these important printed resources,
resulting in a comprehensive catalogue.1308 A digitised, searchable database of midlate-nineteenth-century ‘cheap’ instrumental tune publications, analogous to ‘The
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Archive’ would be advantageous.1309 This would1307

In part this is due to the interest in the lithographed covers, generated amongst art historians,
resulting in inclusion in some digital visual online archives such as NLA and LOC. Research is also mademuch easier by Slatter’s dedicated interest and passion in the piano music sheets resulting in thevaluable online catalogue for MB publications in which he catalogues the entire collection of nearlyseven thousand ‘Musical Bouquet’ series of music sheets, plus further editions of MB compilation books,
tutor books, religious collections and albums, including the instrumental collection. Slatter, 'Foreword'.
1308
The project has commenced as a self-funded project but the enormity of it would benefit fromfunding and academic credence.
1309
This would aim to be similar to the digitalisation of those books that influenced previous musicianssuch as Aird’s. VWML offers this as a digitised copy although there are problems with the digitalisation325not only demonstrate the extent of the music publishers’ largely unknown prolificoutput, aimed at these amateur monophonic instrumentalists, but have a massive
impact on subsequent researchers.1310
Just like the manuscripts which they fed, the printed music sources fall between
disciplines too. An extensive gap in the literature exists regarding the key Victoriancomposers and music publishers of this vernacular musical practice,1311 and ‘the music
publishing industry still awaits its historian’.1312 Their stories need to be researched
and written and a digitised resource would complement these histories.
Directly relating to the manuscript archive, I found that the diverse locations caused
logistical problems for research purposes. Further, despite the highly commendable
and painstaking work carried out by the volunteers involved with VMP and
Folkopedia,1313 I found cataloguing and classification issues, in part resulting fromlarger problems with definition but also relating to the scattered archive andfundamentally a lack of proper recognition in the form of serious funding fromprominent establishments. A survey and well-maintained catalogue and indexing ofboth the archive and the individual tunebooks’ contents would be highly beneficial for
academic researchers and interested enthusiasts alike. In line with this, a comparative
analysis of subsequent manuscripts and current repertoire would enable us to see
those tunes that did emerge as folk music and by their omission, those which were
cast aside, “spat out as unsuitable”.1314
It is vital that these important artefacts of national heritage are valued and given thefunding and prominence they deserve. By placing the archive under the auspices of an
academic or non-voluntary institution would bring awareness of the manuscripts to awider audience whilst ensuring rigorous, accountable practice. Further, as part of theprocess as the page is not working as of 18/05/18. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, 'This Page Isn't
Working', Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (No date) <https://www.vwml.org/browse/browsecollections-dance-tune-books/browse-urbani1800> [accessed 18 May 2018].
1310
On a personal level this would facilitate further research to enable the discovery of more directsources from within the three case-study manuscripts and the dominance of a handful of key publishers.
Ascertaining the publishers’ sources would be vital to continue the examination of the continuing
process of tradition, as it is represented in the manuscripts.
1311
See Chapters 3 and 4.
1312
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 173.
1313
In particular, Johnny Adams and Chris Partington who deserve singular and sincere
acknowledgement for their dedicated voluntary services to maintain and preserve the archive.
1314
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 671.

326

global move towards digital humanities it is essential that the archive is brought
together in one place, as far as is possible,1315 to preserve and promulgate this valuable
historic English archive via an online digitalisation project.
This thesis has justified a place for the manuscripts in the process of folk music
tradition, as defined within a modern scholarly framework. By unravelling the received
definition and objectively accepting the manuscripts’ lack of conformity to this, I aim
for the manuscripts to be approached more widely, no longer carrying the ‘burden of
expectation’. Further, this thesis has shown the manuscripts’ importance to theunderstandings of wider nineteenth-century popular music practice and Victoriancultural and social history. I hope this will result in a wider awareness, acceptance ofand interest in these valuable primary sources across the interdisciplinary academic
spectrum and amongst their current guardians, amateur ‘ordinary’ musicians.

1315

Problems are anticipated regarding private ownership and certain record offices and libraries.

327

Epilogue“…here alone I sadly con
your present dumbness, shape your olden story”.1316

I have spent the last four years on an academic journey, uncovering the story that mygreat-great grandfather’s manuscript and others like it, have to tell about the musicalpractice they represent. Not only has folk music process survived and been passed
down to me, but I am surrounded by remnant artefacts of his musical practice: acouple of wooden fifes; a collection of printed tunebooks; the red silk handkerchieffrom his fiddle case; and most importantly his fiddle and manuscript tunebook, shownin Figure 142. As a postscript to the thesis, I am ending with a photograph of Thomas
Hampton’s violin, fifes and tunebook followed by the words of the Thomas Hardy, andhis poem dedicated to his father’s violin.1317

Figure 142 : Thomas Hampton's fiddle, tunebook and two fifes.

1316

Thomas Hardy, 'To My Father's Violin (1916)', Public Domain Poetry (2018) <http://www.publicdomain-poetry.com> [accessed 22 May 2018].
1317
Ibid.

328

To My Father’s Violin
Does he want you down there
In the Nether Glooms where
The hours may be a dragging load upon him,
As he hears the axle grind
Round and roundOf the great world, in the blind
Still profoundOf the night-time? He might liven at the soundOf your string, revealing you had not forgone him.
In the gallery west the nave,
But a few yards from his grave,
Did you, tucked beneath his chin, to his bowing
Guide the homely harmony
Of the quire
Who for long years strenuously Son and sire Caught the strains that at his fingering low or higher
From your four thin threads and eff-holes came outflowing.
And, too, what merry tunes
He would bow at nights or noons
That chanced to find him bent to lute a measure,
When he made you speak his heart
As in dream,
Without book or music-chart,
On some theme
Elusive as a jack-o'-lanthorn's gleam,
And the psalm of duty shelved for trill of pleasure.
Well, you can not, alas,
The barrier overpass
That screens him in those Mournful Meads hereunder,
Where no fiddling can be heard
In the glades
Of silentness, no bird
Thrills the shades;
Where no viol is touched for songs or serenades,
No bowing wakes a congregation's wonder.
He must do without you now,
Stir you no more anyhow
To yearning concords taught you in your glory;
While, your strings a tangled wreck,
Once smart drawn,
Ten worm-wounds in your neck,
Purflings wan
With dust-hoar, here alone I sadly con
Your present dumbness, shape your olden story.
1916.

329

Appendix A - A Facsimile Resource
Hampton MS c1870-18801318
Photographs: R Dellow. Source: Dellow Personal Collection.
Ham.1.1

Ham.1.2

Ham.1.3

1318

Hampton, Music Manuscript Book (Dances for Violin).

330

Ham.2.1

Ham.2.2

Ham.2.3 & Ham.2.4

331

Ham.3.1

Ham.3.2

332

Ham.4.1

Ham.4.2

Ham.4.3

Ham.4.4333

Ham.5.1

Ham.5.2

Ham.5.3

Ham.5.4334

Ham.6.1

Ham.6.2

Ham.6.3335

Ham.7.1

Ham.7.2

Ham.7.3

Ham.8.1

336

Ham.8.2

Ham.8.3

Ham.8.4

Ham.9.1

Ham.9.2

337

Ham.9.3

Ham.9.4

Ham.9.5

Ham.10.1

Ham.10.2

338

Ham.10.3

Ham.10.4

Ham.10.5

Ham.11.1

Ham.11.2

339

Ham.11.3

Ham.11.4

Ham.12.1 & Ham.12.2

340

Ham.12.3

Ham.12.4

Ham.13.1

Ham.13.2

341

Ham.13.3

Ham.14.1

Ham.14.2

Ham.14.3

342

Ham.14.4

Ham.15.1

Ham.15.2

343

Ham.15.3

Ham.16.1 & Ham.16.2

344

Till/Clutterbuck MS 18661319
Photographs: R Dellow. Source: Gloucestershire Archives (D4190/30 (D4190\3\4)).
Images are reproduced by kind permission of Gloucestershire Archives.
Til.2.1

Til.3.1

Til.4.1

1319

Clutterbuck/Till, Music Manuscript Book.

345

Til.5.1

Til.6.1

Til.7.1

Til.8.1

346

Til.9.1

Til.10.1

Til.11.1

Til.12.1 and Til.12.2

347

Til.13.1 & Til.13.2

Til.14.1

Til.15.1

Til.16.1

348

Til.17.1

Til.18.1

Til.19.1

Til.20.1

349

Til.21.1

Til.22.1

Til.23.1

Til.24.1

350Til.25.1

Til.26.1

Til.27.1

Til.28.1

351

Til.29.1

Til.30.1

Til.31.1

Til.32.1

352

Til.33.1

Til.34.1 & Til.34.2

Til.35.1

Til.36.1

353

Til.37.1

Til.38.1

Til.40.1

354

Til.41.1

Til.42.1

Til.43.1

Til.44.1 & Til.44.2

355

Til.46.1

Til.48.1

Til.49.1

356

Til.50.1

Til.51.1

Til.52.1

357

Til.54.1

Til.55.1

Til.56.1

Til.57.1

358

Til.58.1

359

Bennett MS 18601320
Photographs: G Carter. Source: Huronia Museum, Ontario, Canada. Images are
reproduced by kind permission of Huronia Museum.
Ben.25.1

Ben.26.1

1320

Bennett, Music Manuscript Book.

360

Ben.27.1

Ben.28.1

Ben.29.1

361

Ben.30.1

Ben.31.1

Ben.32.1-Ben.32.2

362

Ben.34.1 & Ben.34.2

Ben.35.1

Ben.36.1 & Ben.36.2

363

Ben.38.1

Ben.40.1

Ben.44.1-Ben.44.2

364

Ben.45.1-Ben.45.2

Ben.46.2

Ben.47.1

365Ben.50.1

Ben.55.1

Ben.56.1

366

Ben.59.1

Ben.60.1

Ben.61.1

367

Ben.62.1

Ben.66.1

Ben.67.1

368

Ben.70.1

Ben.71.1

Ben.72.1 & Ben.72.2

369

Ben.73.1

Ben.74.1 & Ben.74.2

Ben.75.1 & Ben.75.2

370

Ben.76.1

Ben.78.1 & Ben.78.2

Ben.79.1

371

Ben.81.1

Ben.85.1

Ben.89.1

372

Ben.90.1

Ben.91.1

Ben.92.1

373

Ben.97.1

Ben.98.1

Ben.99.1

374

Ben.100.1

Ben.101.1

Ben.110.1 & Ben.110.2

375

Ben.111.1 & Ben.111.2

Ben.112.1 & Ben.112.2

Ben.113.1

376

Ben.114.1

Ben.115.1

Ben.116.1

377

Ben.117.1

Ben.126.1-126.3

Ben.127.1 & Ben.127.2

378

Ben.128.1

Ben.129.1 & 129.2

379

Ben.130.1 & Ben.130.2

380

Appendix B – Summary of Findings
Column Identification:
B = Tune ID
C=Title (alternative or Identified title in brackets)
D= Scribe Identity
E = Tune ‘Depth’ (Provenance) Category (See Chapter 3)
F = Tune ‘Width’ (Genre) Category (See Chapter 3)381

BTune ID

C
Title

D
Srb.

Ham.1.1

Waltz

Ham.1.2
Ham.1.3
Ham.2.1

H = Composer if known
I = Direct Source Found? (Yes, No, M/b (Maybe)) (See Chapter 4)
J = Direct Source Name
K = Publisher Source Found? (See Chapter 4)
L = Publisher Source NameF
Tune Cat.

H
Comp.

1

E
Tune
Prov.
3a

Waltz

Musgrave,
Frank

1
1
1

3b
3a
3a

Waltz
Waltz
Waltz

1

2a

National Air

M/b

1
1

7
7

Pedagogic
Pedagogic

No
No

Ham.3.1
Ham.3.2

N/T
Mama's Little Pet Waltz
Mama's Little Pet Waltz
cont.
Scotch Melody (Blue
Bells of Scotland)
N/T Scale of D major
N/T 3rd position
exercise
The Liverpool Hornpipe
The Weddin Galop

1
1

1b
3a

Hornpipe
Galop

Ham.4.1

The Morning Star

2

1b

Reel

Yes

Ham.4.2

Lady Mack Reel
(Lord MacDonald’s
Reel)
Swansea Hornpipe(Gloucester Hornpipe)
Highland Schottische

2

1b

Reel

Yes

2

3x

Hornpipe

No

No

2

1b

Schottische

No

M/b

Ham.2.2
Ham.2.3
Ham.2.4

Ham.4.3
Ham.4.4

Farmer, Henry
Farmer, Henry

Coote, C

I
D/S
?
No

J
D/S Name

No
No
No

No
Yes

The Violinist's
Portfolio, Reinacle

K
P/S
?
No

M = Date of Publication
N = Provenance of Source
O = Transmission Method

L
P/S Name

M
DateO
Transmission

1850-88

N
SourceProv.
Contemp.

No
M/b
M/b

Williams
Williams

1845-68
1845-68

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

M/b

D'Almaine

1834-58

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

No
No

H&C Selection of
Quad. bk 4
H&C 100 CD for
ViolinH&C 100 CD for
ViolinCopied Contemp.

No
Yes

H&C

1870s

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Yes

H&C

1875

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Yes

H&C

1875

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.

Oral/Memory

Kerrs

c1875

Ham.9.3(Cawder Fair)
Runns Hornpipe(Harlequin Hornpipe /The Colosseum /Master Byron’s
Hornpipe
A WalsCollege Hornpipe
God Save the Queen
Daffodil Schottische
Polka Ida
The Triumph
Memalena Polka
Mina Valse
What Can The MatterBe
A ValseThe Silver Lake
The Tight Little Island
C/D
The Country Fair
The Harvest Home
Hornpipe
The Ratcatcher's
Daughter C/D
The Rigoletto Waltz

Ham.9.4
Ham.9.5

Lucrezia Borgia Waltz
Mollie Darling

2
2

6
3a

Ham.10.1

The Last Rose of
Summer
The Gipsy's Warning

2

1a

Opera
Minstrel Song
(Moore & Burg.)
National Air

2

3a

Minstrel Song

Goard, Henry

M/b

Safe In The Arms of
Jesus

2

5

Hymn

Doane, W.
HowardM/b

Ham.5.1

Ham.5.2
Ham.5.3
Ham.5.4
Ham.6.1
Ham.6.2
Ham.6.3
Ham.7.1
Ham.7.2
Ham.7.3

382

Ham.8.1
Ham.8.2
Ham.8.3
Ham.8.4
Ham.9.1
Ham.9.2

Ham.10.2
Ham.10.3

2

1aHornpipe

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

3b
1a
1a
3b
3b
2b
3b
3a
2a

Waltz
Hornpipe
National Air
Schottische
Polka
Country Dance
Polka
Waltz
Country Dance

No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes

Westrop 120 CD

No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

2
2
2

3b
3a
2a

Waltz
Varsoviana
Country Dance

No
Yes
Yes

Westrop 120 CD
Westrop 120 CD

2
2

1b
1b

Country Dance
Hornpipe

Yes
Yes

2

2a

Country Dance

2

6

Opera

Sheardc1870s

H&C
Sheard1870s

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

No
Yes
Yes

Sheard / MB
Sheard

1870s
1870s

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Westrop 120 CD
Westrop 120 CD

Yes
Yes

SheardSheard

1870s
1870s

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Yes

Westrop 120 CD

Yes

Sheard1870s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Verdi/Mont

M/b

Mont 120 Dancesfor Flute

Yes

MB

1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Donizetti/?
Hays, William S.

No
M/b

No
M/b

MB/Sheard/H&C

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Yes

MB/Sheard

1870s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Yes

MB/Sheard

1870s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1870sContemp.

Copied Contemp.

Coote, C (jnr)

Montgomery,

M/bWestrop 120 CD

Westrop 50 Fav.
Melodies
Westrop 50 Fav.
Melodies
Sacred Songs and
Solos

1875

Ham.10.4

Sun of My Soul

2

5

Hymn

Ham.10.523aMinstrel Song

Robert, J. R.

Ham.11.1

Tis But A Little Faded
Flower
The Little Brown Jug

23aWinner, J

Ham.11.2
Ham.11.3
Ham.11.4

My Grandfather's Clock
Valse
The Empty Cradle

2
3
2

3a
3b
3a

Ham.12.1

Come To The Saviour

2

5

Minstrel Song
(Christy)
Popular Ballad
Waltz
Minstrel Song
(Christy)
Hymn

Root, George

M/bHam.12.2

Tell Me The Old Old
Story
The Swiss Boy
Tom Bowling
Buonaparte's GrandMarch
O Come All Ye Faithful
The Ship That Never
Returned
The Byrne Hornpipe
The Clown's Hornpipe(New Clog Hornpipe)
Copenhagen Waltz
A ValseBristol Hornpipe
Millicen's Hornpipe
A ValseThe Navvie Hornpipe
Manchester Hornpipe
Hornpipe (Manchester)Hornpipe (Hunting The
Hare)
Hornpipe (White
Cockade)

2

5

Hymn

Doane, W.
Howard

M/b

2
2
2

3b
2a
3b

National Air
Popular Ballad
March

Dibdin, C
Westrop, T?

No
No
No

No
No
No

2
2

4
3a

Carol
Minstrel (Christy)

Work, Henry C.

No
No

No
No

2
2

3x
3x

Hornpipe
Hornpipe

M/b
No

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1

2b
3b
3x
3x
3b
3a
3x
3x
3x

Waltz
Waltz
Hornpipe
Hornpipe
Waltz
Hornpipe
Hornpipe
Hornpipe
Hornpipe

No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No

1

3x

HornpipeNo

Ham.12.3
Ham.12.4
Ham.13.1

383

Ham.13.2
Ham.13.3
Ham.14.1
Ham.14.2
Ham.14.3
Ham.14.4
Ham.15.1
Ham.15.2
Ham.15.3
Ham.16.1
Ham.16.2
Til.2.1
Til.3.1
Til.4.1

M/b
M/bWestrop's Gemsof Sacred SongH&C Popular
Songs of the Day

M/b

MB/Sheard

1874

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

M/b

H&C

1876-87

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.
Contemp.

UnsureOral/Memory
Copied Contemp.

Work, Henry C.

1879
No
No

No
No
Sacred Songs andSolos
Sacred Songs andSolos

Kerr's 2nd / 3rd

Kerr's 1st
Kerr's 1st
Kerr's 1st
Kerr's 1st

M/b

MB

1870s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

M/b

MB

1870s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1870sContemp.
Contemp.

Oral/Memory
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1860-70

Contemp.

UnsureCopied Contemp.

c1875

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Contemp.

M/b
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No

Kerrs

Kerrs
Kerrs

c1875
c1875

Contemp.
Contemp.

Kerrs
Kerrs

c1875
c1875

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Oral/Memory
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Oral/Memory
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Til.5.1
Til.6.1
Til.7.1
Til.8.1
Til.9.1
Til.10.1
Til.11.1
Til.12.1
Til.12.2
Til.13.1
Til.13.2
Til.14.1

384

Til.15.1
Til.16.1
Til.17.1
Til.18.1
Til.19.1
Til.20.1
Til.21.1
Til.22.1
Til.23.1

Til.24.1
Til.25.1

Hornpipe
Hornpipe (Pibdawns
Hewl-y-Fel / Clark’s)
Hornpipe (Spot
Hornpipe)
Hornpipe (Soldier's Joy)
Quick Step (Gloucester
Quick Step / Capuchin)
Recruit Quick March
Silver Lake Varsoviana

1
1

3x
3x

Hornpipe
Hornpipe

No
No

No
No

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1

3x

Hornpipe

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1
1

3x
2b

Hornpipe
Quick Step

No
No

No
No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Unknown

1
1

3a
3a

Quick March
Varsoviana

c1860

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Schottische
The Hebe Waltz
Schottische
The Heather Bloom
Waltz
Set of Quadrilles (Royal
Irish)
Set of Quadrilles (Royal
Irish)
Set of Quadrilles (Royal
Irish)
Set of Quadrilles (Royal
Irish)
Jenny Jones Or The
Charming Young Widow
The Enchanteress Polka
N/T (Trecynon Polka)
Great Eastern PolkaLa Tempete
The White Star Polka

2
1
2
1

3b
3b
3b
3a

Schottische
Waltz
Schottische
Waltz

1860s

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

2

3a

2

The Scotch Polka
Bonnie Dundee
Quadrilles

Barthmann, C?
Montgomery,No
M/bWestrop 150 Mel
for ViolinNo
M/b

Haydn Millars

No
M/b
No
M/b

Quadrille/Lancer

JullienNoNo

pre-1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

3aQuadrille/Lancer

JullienNoNo

pre-1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

2

3aQuadrille/Lancer

JullienNoNo

pre-1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

2

3aQuadrille/Lancer

JullienNoNo

pre-1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

1bPopular Ballad

Parry, JNo

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1
1
2
2
2

3a
3b
3a
3b
3a

Polka
Polka
Polka
Country Dance
Polka

Juliano A.P.

M/b
No
M/b
No
No

Boosey

1860s

H&C

1860s

Moffat, A M

No
No
No
No
No

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

2
2

3a
3a

Polka
Quadrille/Lancer

D'Albert
D'Albert

M/b
No

M/b
M/b

Chappell or MB
ChappellCopied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied fromfriend? butcontemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Montgomery,

Coote, C (snr)

Montgomery
Montgomery

Montgomery

No
M/b
No
M/b

Sheard/MB

PearmanPearman

1870s

1860s

Contemp.
Contemp.

Til.26.1

Bonnie Dundee
Quadrilles
Bonnie Dundee
Quadrilles
Bonnie Dundee
Quadrilles
Bonnie Dundee
Quadrilles
Ask Mamma Polka

2

3aQuadrille/Lancer

D'Albert

No

M/b

ChappellContemp.

Copied Contemp.

2

3aQuadrille/Lancer

D'Albert

No

M/b

ChappellContemp.

Copied Contemp.

2

3aQuadrille/Lancer

D'Albert

No

M/b

ChappellContemp.

Copied Contemp.

2

3aQuadrille/Lancer

D'Albert

No

M/b

ChappellContemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3a

Polka

Montgomery,

M/b

Yes

MB

c1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Til.31.1

Golden Stream
Varsoviana

1

3aVarsoviana

Montgomery

M/b

Yes

MB

c1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Til.32.1
Til.33.1
Til.34.1

1
1
1

3b
3b
2b

March
Schottische
Quadrille/Lancer

No
No
No

No
No
M/b

MB/Sheard

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1

2b

Quadrille/Lancer

No

M/b

MB/Sheard

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

12aQuadrille/Lancer

No

M/b

Cocks/Chappell

1857

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Til.36.1

Campaign
Boulevard Schottische
Whistle and I'll come to
Thee
Comin' Through The
Rye
3rd Figure of theLancers
Campbells Are Coming

1

2b

No

M/b

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

A Waltz

1

3b

No

M/b

MB (MusicalGem)
MB/Sheard

1860s

Til.37.1

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Til.38.1
Til.40.1
Til.42.1
Til.42.1

Swiss Air
N/T (Ciascun Lo Dice)
N/T
Rosalie Prarie Flower

1
1
1
1

2a
6
3b
3a

Donizetti/?
Wurzel, G F

No
No
No
No

M/b
M/b
No
No

Contemp.
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Til.43.1
Til.44.1

Champaign Charlie
Twas on a Sunday
Morning
I'll Be There Love At
Half Past Three

1
1

3a
3b/1b

C/D Tune (Scotch)
also Quadrilles
Waltz / National
Air
National Air
Opera
Polka
Minstrel Song
(Christy)
Popular Ballad
Popular Ballad

Laybourne Lee
Mori, F

No
No

No
No

1866
1850s

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
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3

3aPopular Ballad

Pink & LeBrun

No

No

1893!!

Contemp.

Oral/Memory

Til.27.1
Til.28.1
Til.29.1
Til.30.1

385

Til.34.2
Til.35.1

Til.44.2

Duval

Westrop150/
Mont 120 Dancesfor FluteWestrop150/
Mont 120 Dancesfor Flute

MB/SheardMBTil.46.1
Til.48.1
Til.49.1
Til.50.1
Til.51.1
Til.52.1
Til.54.1

Prince Imperial Galop
Waltz
Galop
Waltz
Poopagena Waltz
Invitation Galop
Quadrille (Edinburgh
Quadrille)
Waltz
Belle Of The Season
Waltz
The Lass Of Gowrie

2
2
2
2
2
2
2

3b
3b
3b
3b
6
3b
3b

Galop
Waltz
Galop
Waltz
Opera
Galop
Quadrille/Lancer

2
1

3b
3b

Waltz
Waltz

1

2a

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3b
3x

Ben.35.1

England Quadrills
England Quadrills
England Quadrills
England Quadrills
England Quadrills
Charlestown Quadrills
Charlestown Quadrills
Charlestown Quadrills
Charlestown Quadrills
Charlestown Quadrills
Swiss DanceMy Young Man is Gone
to seaSpeed The Plough1

2aBen.36.1
Ben.36.2

Dew Drop Waltz
Last Rose of Summer

1
1

Ben.38.1

The Signal March1

Til.55.1
Til.56.1
Til.58.1

386

Ben.25.1
Ben.26.1
Ben.27.1
Ben.28.1
Ben.29.1
Ben.30.1
Ben.30.2
Ben.31.1
Ben.32.1
Ben.32.2
Ben.34.1
Ben.34.2

Coote, C (jnr)

MozartCoote, C (jnr)
D'Albert

No
No
No
No
No
No
No

M/b
No
No
No
No
No
No

Milson, G

No
No

No
No

PopularBallad/Quadrille
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
National Air
National Air

Oliphant / Gow

No

No

D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert
D'Albert

No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No

M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
No
No

Moorhead

No

No

3a
1a

Country Dance
Tune (or musicfrom play)
Waltz
National Air

D'Albert

No
M/b

3a

March

KleberNo

Westrop

Williams

ChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellM/bM/bChappellMB

M/b

MB arr. J S
Jones

1860s

Contemp.
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1878

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1860s-70s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1858-92
1858-92
1858-92
1858-92
1858-92

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
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Copied Contemp.
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Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Possibly 2nds or
short-hand but
appears copied
but unknown
Copied Contemp.

1874

Contemp.

Ben.40.1
Ben.44.1
Ben.44.2
Ben.45.1
Ben.45.2
Ben.46.1
Ben.46.2
Ben.47.1
Ben.50.1
Ben.55.1
Ben.56.1
Ben.59.1
Ben.60.1
Ben.61.1

387

Ben.62.1
Ben.63.1
Ben.64.1
Ben.66.1
Ben.67.1
Ben.70.1
Ben.71.1
Ben.72.1
Ben.72.2
Ben.73.1

Mary's Pet Waltz
The Rat's Quadrills
The Rat's Quadrills
The Rat's Quadrills
The Rat's Quadrills
The Rat's Quadrills
Schottische
The Slave's Polka
N/T
Tranquility
The Angels Whisper
Waltz
The Dashing White
Sergeant Quadrills
The Dashing White
Sergeant Quadrills
The Dashing White
Sergeant Quadrills
The Dashing White
Sergeant Quadrills
The Dashing White
Sergeant Quadrills
The Dashing White
Sergeant Quadrills
N/T

2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1

3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3a
3b
3b
7
5
3a

1

3a

Waltz
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Quadrille/Lancer
Schottische
Polka
Pedagogic
Hymn
Waltz/PopularSong
Quadrille/Lancer

Mack, E
Redler, G
Redler, G
Redler, G
Redler, G
Redler, G
D'Albert?

13aQuadrille/Lancer

13a

Quadrille/Lancer

13a

Quadrille/Lancer

13a

Quadrille/Lancer

13a

Quadrille/Lancer

1

8

Other

No

No

Cornopean Tutor
Doyatonic Scale
N/T
Quick Step
The Silver Lake

17

Pedagogic

No

1
1
1

3b
3b
3a

Quick Step?
Quick Step
Varsoviana

No
No
M/b

Texture Round andSmall (Buttered Peas)
Those Evening Bells

1

1b

Country Dance12bNational Air

Jones, J S
Jones, J S/Bish.
BishopJones, J Sidney/ Bishop
Jones, J Sidney/ Bishop
Jones, J Sidney/ Bishop
Jones, J Sidney/ Bishop
Jones, J Sidney/ Bishop

Montgomery,

Stevenson /
Moore

No
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
No
No
No
No
No

Rimbault
Rimbault
Rimbault
Rimbault
Rimbault

No
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
M/b
No
No
No
M/b

1880
1860
1860
1860
1860
1860

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MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

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Oral/Memory
Copied Unknown
Copied Contemp.

ChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellChappellM/b

J S Jones

M/b

MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

M/b

J S Jones

M/b

MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

M/b

J S Jones

M/b

MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

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M/b

J S Jones

M/b

MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

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M/b

J S Jones

M/b

MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

M/b

J S Jones

M/b

MB

1860s-70s

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

No

Contemp.

unknown
Shorthand, alpha.
Copied Contemp.

No
No
M/b

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Westrop 150 Mel.
for Violin

No

No

No

No

Sheard/MB

c1860

Copied Unknown
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Ben.74.1
Ben.74.2
Ben.75.1
Ben.75.2
Ben.76.1
Ben.78.1
Ben.78.2
Ben.79.1
Ben.81.1
Ben.89.1
Ben.92.1
Ben.97.1

388

Ben.98.1
Ben.99.1
Ben.100.1
Ben.101.1
Ben.110.1
Ben.110.2
Ben.111.1
Ben.111.2
Ben.112.1
Ben.112.2
Ben.113.1

Shells of the Ocean
The Garden of Love
Will Watch The Bold
Smuggler
Isle of Beauty
The Young Recruit
A Cure

1
3
1

3a
3b
2a

Popular Ballad
Popular Ballad
Popular Ballad

Grube/Cherry
Davy, J

No
No
No

No
No
No

1
1
1

3a
3a
3a

Massas In The Cold
GroundAll Is Lost
Isle of Beauty
The Gipsy Countess
Mother I've Come
Home To Die
Serenaders or Nigger
Set of Quadrills
Serenaders or Nigger
Set of Quadrills
Serenaders or Nigger
Set of Quadrills
Serenaders or Nigger
Set of Quadrills
Serenaders or Nigger
Set of Quadrills
The Girl I Left BehindMeHornpipe (Handsome
Ploughboy)
Royal Welsh Hornpipe
Hornpipe (Morpeth
Rant)
Swansea Hornpipe
Poly Won’t You Try MeO
New Hornpipe

1

3a

1
2
1
1/2?

6
3a
3a
3a

1

3a

Popular Ballad
Quick March
Popular Ballad /Music-hall
Minstrel Song
(Christy)
Opera
Popular Ballad
Popular Ballad
Minstrel Song
(Christy)
Quadrille/Lancer

Whitmore/Bayl.
Barthmann, C?
Sloman, C

No
No
No

No
No
No

Foster, S

M/b

Bellini
Whitmore/Bayl.
Glover, S
Tucker, H /Grobe, C

No
No
No
Yes

1

3a

1

Mont 130 Christy
Minstrel Songs

MB 3494

Yes
No
No
No
Yes

Chappell / MB /SheardMB

1864

Contemp.
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1870sContemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
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1860

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Contemp.
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Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Oral/Memory
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1874

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

Quadrille/Lancer

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

3aQuadrille/Lancer

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3aQuadrille/Lancer

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3aQuadrille/Lancer

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3xNational Air

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

1bHornpipe

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1
1

3b
1b

Hornpipe
Hornpipe

No
No

No
No

Contemp.
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Copied Contemp.
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1
1

3x
3a

No
No

No
M/b

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1

3x

Hornpipe
Minstrel Song
(Christy)
Hornpipe

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

ChappellBen.114.1
Ben.115.1
Ben.116.1
Ben.117.1
Ben.126.1
Ben.126.2

Ben.126.3
Ben.127.1

389

Ben.127.2
Ben.128.1
Ben.129.1
Ben.129.2
Ben.130.1
Ben.130.2

Stage Hornpipe (Quay
Hornpipe)
Jones Hornpipe (poll of
Wapping)
The Weasel Hornpipe
N/T
N/T (My Love She's But
A Lassie Yet)
N/T (Harmony to My
Love She's But A Lassie
Yet)
N/T (Britannia the prideof the ocean)N/T (Britannia the prideof the ocean in diff key)
Young Ellen The Fair
King Piping Polka
Jullien's Polka (Jullien's
Original Polka)
Jullien's Polka (Jullien's
Original Polka)
Divil Among The Taylors
Royal Irish Quadrill

1

3x

Hornpipe

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3x

Hornpipe

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1
1
1

3b
3b
1a

Hornpipe
Hornpipe
Country Dance

No
No
No

No
No
No

Contemp.
Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1

3xCountry Dance

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3aPopular Ballad

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1

3aPopular Ballad

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

2?
1
1

1b
3a
3a

National Air
Polka
Polka

D'Albert
Jullien

No
No
No

No
M/b
No

Contemp.
Contemp.

UnsureCopied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

1

3a

Polka

Jullien

No

No

Contemp.

Copied Contemp.

1
1

1b
3a

Reel
Quadrille/Lancer

Jullien

M/b
No

Contemp.
Contemp.

Copied Contemp.
Copied Contemp.

Westrop120 CD

M/b
No

ChappellSheard/MB

Appendix C – Master List
Southern English Post-1849 Manuscripts
MS NameAnon W.
Mids
Bennett
Clarke W
HamptonHorn
Huntlea
JulianTill
TurnerWatsonOrigin County
West Midlands

Town?

Compiler?

Dates
mid 19Somerset
Norfolk
Herefordshire
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
CornwallGloucestershire
Sussex
Norfolk

Chedzoy
Fetwell
Hereford
Aylesbury
Cambridge?
Stone
WarehamSwanton Abbott

1860
1858
1870
1864
1884
late 19thc
1866
1842-1852
1850-1880

Winter W

SomersetWest BagboroughC W Bennett
William Clarke
Thomas Hampton
Francis Horn
Henry Huntlea
Arthur Julian
George Till
Michael Turner
George Henry
WatsonWilliam Winter390

1848 1850

Appendix D – Examples of Transmission Survey391

Candidates 1 and 2‘a’ represents the memory transcription and ‘b’ the copied version.

392

Candidates 3 and 4393

Candidates 5 and 6394

Candidates 7 and 8

395

Candidates 9 and 10

396Appendix E – Transcription of Chappell’s Cheap WorksCHAPPELL’S CHEAP WORKS
For Various Instruments, Price Eighteen-pence Each.
TUTORS.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Violin Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Pianoforte Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Flute Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Clarionet Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Cornet Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Harmonium Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR English Concertina Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Singing Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR German Concertina Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Harmony Tutor.
CHAPPELL’S POPULAR Guitar Tutor.
VIOLIN.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in the ‘Queen Topazo’ and in
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Il Trovatore’ and ‘Lathe ‘Rose of Castile’.
Traviata’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Sacred Songs, Anthems,
CHAPPELL’S 100 Dances (principally D’Albert’s).
Psalms and Hymns.
Second Violin and Bass Part to Ditto.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Robin Hood’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Dances (Second Series).
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Lurline and Victorine’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Operatic Airs.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Irish Airs.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Popular Songs.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Scotch Airs.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Hornpipes, Reels, Jigs, etc.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Christy Minstrel Melodies.
CHAPPELL’S Eighteen Airs with Easy Variations.
FLUTE.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in the ‘Queen Topazo’ and in
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Robin Hood’.
the ‘Rose of Castile’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Sacred Songs, Anthems,
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Lurline and Victorine’.
Psalms and Hymns.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Irish Airs.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Il Trovatore’ and ‘La
Traviata’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Scotch Airs.
CHAPPELL’S 100 Dances (principally D’Albert’s).
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Christy Minstrel Melodies.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Operatic Airs.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Popular Songs.
CLARIONET.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Sacred Songs, Anthems,
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Irish Airs.
Psalms and Hymns.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Scotch Airs.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Christy Minstrel Melodies.
CORNET-A-PISTONS.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in the ‘Queen Topazo’ and in
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Lurline and Victorine’.
the ‘Rose of Castile’.
CHAPPELL’S 100 Dances (principally D’Albert’s).
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Sacred Songs, Anthems,
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Irish Airs.
Psalms and Hymns.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Scotch Airs.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Robin Hood’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Christy Minstrel Melodies.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Operatic Airs.
CHAPPELL’S Twenty-five Duets for two Cornets.
ENGLISH CONCERTINA.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Sacred Songs, Anthems,
CHAPPELL’S 100 Dances (principally D’Albert’s).
Psalms and Hymns.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Irish Airs.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Robin Hood’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Scotch Airs.
CHAPPELL’S Favourite Airs in ‘Lurline and Victorine’.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Christy Minstrel Melodies.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Operatic Airs.
GERMAN CONCERTINA.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Operatic Melodies, Songs, Dances, &c.
GUITAR.
HARMONIUM.
CHAPPELL’S One Hundred Dances.
CHAPPELL’S Fifty Sacred Melodies.
CHAPPELL’S Popular Songs, Guitar Accomp., 2 Books.
CHAPPELL’S Fifty Secular Melodies.
Care should be taken to Order CHAPPELL’S Cheap Works, as they alone contain D’ALBERT’S and other
Popular Copyright Works
50. NEW BOND STREET

397

Appendix F – Transcription of Newspaper Reports from Chapter 5
Extract from Western Daily Press, 14 January 1871.1321
The Prince of Wales at Berkeley. Ball to the Tenantry. Friday night
The principal event of the day has been the tenants’ ball to-night, which was on a mostcomplete scale, invitations being extended to between 300 and 400 persons…The
splendid dining hall had been prepared for dancing, and although the walls since thetime of the victor of Cressy when the apartment was built have frequently echoed tothe sound of revelry, never was a more gay assembly witnessed there than on thisoccasion, when village swains and rustic damsels footed it in company with their
future monarch. The dimensions of the hall are greater than some local guide bookstate, and instead of it being only 43 feet in length, the room is really 60 feet. At theupper end, over the spacious fireplace, were now arranged the pieces of armour that
ordinarily are placed in a recess at the opposite extremity, on each side of thesereminiscences of the days of chivalry being stars fashioned of brightly polishedbayonets and ramreads, producing a capital effect. Above the warlike symbols wasaffixed the Royal standard that during the two previous days floated proudly from thesummit of Thorpe’s tower. Flags of all nations were suspended from the raftered roof,
and these, together with the heavy crimson curtains drawn over the “storied windows
richly dight”, through which so often, as Capern puts it,“A flood of sunlight, beautiful as dew,
That falls a shatter’d rainbow”
Has been poured, give to the interior considerable warmth and richness. The recess
whence the armour was taken for the nonce filled by arms, disposed of in fanciful
devices; and at intervals around the walls there were tapers stuck in bayonets…Thehall was otherwise lit by means of gas jets that ran along the lower end, and the hugeantlered candelabrum depending in the centre. The quaint Minstrels’ Gallery, where
formerly the lays of “Merrie England” were given by a tuneful crew, was now
discarded, and a niche not far from the fireplace appropriated to the band of the South
Gloucestershire Militia, who still enlivened the Castle with their strains…Dancing beganat half-past 10 o’clock, the programme commencing with a quadrille, in which,amongst others, his Royal Highness, Lady Fitzhardinge…took part. The Prince who
opened the ball with Lady Fitzhardinge, was attired in ordinary evening dress…It was
truly exhilarating to behold the zest with which lively measures were tripped, the fair
sex especially entering heartily into the merry pastime…The hours fled swiftly, andpolka, valse, and schottische, varied and repeated, caused time to pass unheeded…It
may be taken for granted that on so joyous an occasion the company did not separate
till morning, and when the last dance, “Sir Roger de Coverley,” had terminated, theywere, as Tommy Moore would say, “lit to the door by Aurora.”

1321'The Prince of Wales at Berkeley. Ball to the Tenantry', p. 3.

398

Extract from Gloucester Journal, ‘Prince of Wales at Berkeley’, 21st January 1871.1322
The guests began to arrive at 10 o’clock, and at about a quarter to eleven his RoyalHighness...entered the ball-room with Lady Fitzhardinge, his Lordship, and thedistinguished party of guests…The band commenced the first quadrille shortly after his
Royal Highness entered the hall, and in a double set formed at one end of the hall
were the Prince and Lady Fitzhardinge…. The Prince opened the ball with Lady
Fitzhardinge, and after the opening quadrille the distinguished guests mixed with thegeneral company. His Royal Highness entered with a zest which was evidently naturaland unforced into the mirth and gaiety of the festive gathering. Waltzing seemed to be
the Prince’s favourite dance, and it was one in which he excelled, but in the country
dances he did not fail to take part, together with large numbers of the tenantry. It was
not till half-past two o’clock that the Prince intimated his intention to retire, andthereupon from the numerous assemblage, who up to this moment had with thegreatest good taste refrained from any demonstration relative to the Prince’s
presence, there burst forth in honour of his Royal Highness…The band played Brinley
Richards’s “God bless the Prince of Wales” as his Royal Highness left the room…andthe festivities were kept till about four o’clock in the morning’.
Extract from Somerset County Gazette, Saturday 03 September 1864.1323
CHEDZOY HARVEST HOME
On Thursday the inhabitants of Chedzoy celebrated their annual Harvest Home. This is
the second gathering of the kind in this parish, and, although not conducted on solarge a scale s that of east Brent, it was nevertheless a decided success.
Chedzoy is situated in the centre of an extensive corn-growing country, and therefore
this celebration of the ingathering of the harvest was especially appropriate, and it wasmade the occasion of unmixed enjoyment to all classes. Every person who isacquainted with the character of Englishmen and women know how heartily they
enjoy a good old English holiday; but unfortunately these seasons are usuallyassociated with much that is objectionable, and hence they are looked upon with
disfavour by many who would otherwise willingly co-operate in securing a day ofrelaxation once in the year, when all the classes might assemble together and,throwing off their exclusiveness, enter into the enjoyments of the occasion withheartiness and good will. It is due to the Rev. G. O. Mullins, rector of this parish, tostate that he has eminently succeeded in securing for his parishioners an annual
holiday without any of the excesses which usually render these gatherings
objectionable…Flags, with various devices, met the eye at every turning of the road,and both ‘squire and rustic appeared bent upon a day’s enjoyment…The proceedingsof the day commenced with Divine service in the church…The singing, which was very
good, was under the leadership of Mr. Lucette, of Bridgewater. At the conclusion of
the service the people proceeded to a field near the rectory where the festivities were
to be held, and where a large tent had been erected, in which about 200 sat down toan excellent dinner…The company then separated and dispersed over the ground,joining in the amusements which had been provided.

1322
1323

'The Prince of Wales at Berkeley Castle', p. 5.
'Chedzoy Harvest Home', p. 6.

399

At 5 o’clock tea was plentifully supplied to the women and children, There was aservice in the evening at 8 o’clock…The Bridgwater Promenade Band was inattendance and played during the day, whilst the young and old of both sexes availed
themselves of the opportunity of having a dance on the green sward’.
Extract from Hereford Times, ‘Shire Hall : Selling Beer at Illegal Times', 22 May
1852.1324
SELLING BEER AT ILLEGAL TIMES - William Clarke, of Marden, again appeared toanswer the charge of keeping his beer-house open, after ten o’clock, on the night of
the 1st of May…In addition to the evidence previously given, a man named Weaver,
who it appeared acted as fiddler upon the occasion, was examined, and from hisstatement it seems that he left the house about two o’clock on the Sunday morning;
there being twenty of five-and twenty people in the house. There was a little“stepping” going on in the course of the evening; he was fiddling until about eleveno’clock, and when he left off to take a little refreshment, - for the fiddle could not go
unless the physical strength of the fiddler were supported by an element stronger thanwater – the fiddle itself was carried away, and with the music, the dancing of coursesoon terminated; the company consequently adjourned from the “ball-room” to the
tap-room and others more prudently to their dwellings. The room thus vacated wassoon occupied for a very different purpose, it being converted into a sleeping
apartment for the “navvies” and “Young” (the witness examined last week), was soonburied in sleep…Not so the unfortunate musician; who was engaged in searching,hedges and ditches, fields and groves, vainly looking for the lost instrument, until
daylight began to make its appearance, and then he wended his disconsolate way
homewards lamenting his loss, and reflecting what steps he had better pursue, torecover possession of his very means of subsistence – his fiddle…
Extract from Ross Gazette, ‘Gymnastic Display’, 16 April 1891.1325
GYMNASTIC DISPLAY
On Thursday evening last, a grand gymnastic display was given in the Corn Exchange,
Ross, by members of the Hereford Gymnastic Club, in conjunction with members of
the Ross Gymnasium, when there was a large attendance. The programme of eventswas an excellent one, and the enjoyment of the evening was much enhanced by theattendance of a string band, under the leadership of Mr. Walter Soobroy, of Hereford,
which performed a number of selections, in addition to which Mr. G. E. Innell sang ingood style. The following was the programme:Extract from Leamington Spa Courier, 18 November 1865.1326
PENNY CONCERTS
The second of these popular fortnightly entertainments came off on Tuesday evening
at the Corn Exchange. The room was pretty well filled. Mr Repton, M.P., occupied thechair, and he was accompanied on the platform by Mr R. Greaves, Mt Nelson, and Mr
1324'Shire Hall : Selling Beer at Illegal Times', p. 7.
'Gymnastic Display', p. 4.
1326'Penny Concerts', p. 8.
1325

400

J. Moore. In opening the proceedings, the Chairman said: - Ladies and gentlemen, - Itgives me great pleasure to be called to the chair on this occasion, and still greater
pleasure to see so large a number of my friends of Warwick here. I am well aware thatin these days of excursion trains most persons have opportunities of going places ofamusement at a distance – to such places, for instance, as the Crystal Palace and theMetropolis. Still, there is a large mass of people who earn their bread by their daily
labour, and have neither the means nor the time to go to such places, and I believe tosuch classes these musical entertainments, these penny concerts, are a great boon. I
am glad to see so many of them here to-night, and I confess it gives me equal pleasure
to see so large a number of those who have the means and the opportunity of coming
and participating in the amusement of their less fortunate brethren, for I am quite
aware that it is only by accident that we possess and are enabled to enjoy thoseadvantages. I think you have got a most attractive programme this evening, and it isquite unnecessary for me to trouble you with a long speech. I will only say that I mostcordially and heartily wish success to these meetings, and I hope that this will not be
the last time I may have the pleasure of being present at them. (Applause.)…
Extract from Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, 17 November 1860.1327
SATURDAY PENNY CONCERTS
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ADVERTISER
Sir, - You very kindly last season reported the progress of the Popular Fortnightly
Concerts, and the publicity you gave it by your friendly criticisms rendered good
service to the society; in fact your valuable little paper is weekly looked for withinterest, as replete with the topics of the day. You are well aware the interest that was
taken both in the society, and by the committee of the Total Abstinence Society, toenhance the pleasure and comfort of the working classes for a couple of hours on a
Saturday evening. But you are not perhaps aware of the petty jealously caused by theirprosperity, and ‘twill be well for you to know it, and through you the public. Thisseason two or three more gentlemen have rallied round the committee’s standard
amongst them a pianist, Mr J. Righton, who, we understand, has never before
presumed to develop those abilities before a public audience. His singing was very
good and expressive in that well known song “Ah che la Morte,” from “Il Trovatore,”accompanying himself on the piano as he did with that delicacy of touch and feelingexpression which alone meets the approbation of judges of fine music (a few of whom
we are glad to learn were present). His performances elicited for him a hearty
applause from the audience, and we hope to have the pleasure pf hearing him again
this evening.
Our Penny Concerts are getting very popular and bid fair to prosper during theforthcoming season, and we trust that those gentlemen, who so kindly lent theirservices last year, will again come forward this season, and we may rely upon theconcerts being well attended, and will no doubt in the end prove a beneficial interest
to the town.
FRIEND OF THE WORKING MEN.

1327

'Saturday Penny Concerts. To the Editor of the Advertiser', p. 4.

401

Appendix G – Transcription of Newspaper Reports from Chapter 6
Extract from Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser, 21 February 1844.1328
MUSIC SALOON, AND MUSIC CIRCULATING
LIBRARY,
10, East Reach, Taunton------MR. F. NORTON ERITH,
TEACHER OF THE PIANO FORTE AND
SINGING,RESPECTFULLY informs his Patrons, Pupils and Amateurs of Music, that he has
established at his residence, a Saloon for the sale of Music, &c ; and has selected
personally from the best Publishers, a collection of Popular and Standard MusicalWorks, embracing the productions of the most eminent composers.
Mr. F.N.E. begs to draw attention to his “Music Circulating Library,” which will befound to contain an assortment of the most fashionable publications, Vocal andInstrumental. “Conditions and Regulations,” Terms, &c., will be affixed to each piece ofMusic.
The advantage of a Music Circulating Library, must be obvious to every person awareof the great variety of Music, constantly emanating from the press.
Mr. F. N. ERITH, in soliciting encouragement in his new undertaking, takes thisopportunity of offering his grateful acknowledgements for the generous support hehas experienced, and still continues to enjoy as a Teacher of the Piano Forte andSinging, and to express the hope that his fidelity in the discharge of his professional
duties, may merit public approval.
The most popular Quadrilles, Waltzes, by Jullien, Lanner, Strauss, Labitzky and others
are in the Library, as also the whole of the Music from Burgmuller’s beautiful Ballett“La Peri,” arranged by the author and the Songs, and arrangements from Balfe’s new
and popular Opera “The BOHEMIAN GIRL.”
Piano Fortes Tuned by an experience Person on the most Moderate Terms.
February 5, 1844.

1328'Music Saloon and Music Circulating Library', p. 1.

402

Appendix H – Poverty, Prosperity and Earnings – A Wider Perspective
I carried out a survey of wider literature to try and understand the reality of theconditions and wages for the working classes at the time of the manuscripts. Although
the subject is not specifically related to music, I used both musicological and nonmusicological sources. I was interested to see if the compilers would have had enoughdisposable income to attend the cheaper concerts (both with regards to entrance
tickets and travel), printed music and other related resources.
In his studies of folk musicians, Hall finds awful conditions during this period which heattributes to the economic depression which followed the Napoleonic Wars (18031815), and oppression created by the New Poor Law (1834).1329 Chandler describes the
mid-1850s as years of “extensive economic privation” and “dire poverty”,1330 with aloaf of bread costing the same as an agricultural labourer’s daily wage. He states that
the Crimea War (1853-1856) caused the death of thousands of children throughstarvation, and Hall blames industrialisation and cheap imported produce causing aslump in farming the 1870s.1331 A massive rise in population throughout the century
further contributed to unemployment in all areas,1332 and clearly, returning to theharsh existence in the dwindling rural communities which survived the urban
emigration, appealed less to the poor urban dwellers who, effectively voted with theirfeet by staying put in the crowded, bleak cities and making their lives there.
However, Russell believes that in reality, times were not so hard or at least eased as
the century progressed, noting that “from about mid-century, sections of the English
working class began to enjoy an improvement in financial status”.1333 He calculates
that during the years of the ‘Great Depression’, 1876-1896, “the combined effect of aslight increase in actual wage rates and a 40 per cent decrease in prices resulted in anational rise in real wages of 66 per cent”.1334 Whilst he is careful to qualify his
1329

Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', pp. 9-10. He quotes Reed sayingthat “to have been a rural worker in the 19th C must have been to have had an existence of appalling
toil, privation and precious little joy”; “until quite late in the century rural living was extremely squalid”.
Mick Reed, 'The Peasantry of Nineteenth-Century England: A Neglected Class?', History Workshop, 18.
Autumn (1984), 71.
1330
Chandler, 'Musicians in 19th Century Southern England'. MT064
1331
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 10.
1332
In Sussex, 1801-1901 there was a 400% increase in population. Ibid. p. 9.
1333
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 15.
1334
Ibid.

403

statement he clearly observes a rise in disposable income amongst the working classes
in the later decades of the century, a trend which is reflected in Bowley’s
calculations,1335 discussed below and argued by Gammon, commenting that “the lot of
the rural poor seems to have improved a little after 1850”.1336
Gammon states that an agricultural labourer was earning “between ten-and-six andeleven-and-six”, a week mid-century and notes that a skilled worked was also quite
poorly paid, earning a typical wage of “fifteen shillings a week”.1337 In his spiritualautobiography, rural musician Nye states that in 1845 he earnt ten shillings a week,
working “with the mill cart”.1338 Similarly, Burstow’s account of his wages as ashoemaker depict him earning as low as two shillings a week as an apprentice, rising to
an average of fifteen shillings for a sixty-seventy hour working week when skilled.1339
This is corroborated by Gammon, who finds that even master craftsmen, those fromthe skilled labour class earnt a low wage.1340 As opportunities of earning a
supplementary income were greater with a musical skill, it provided a poorly paid
worker to earn a “few extra shillings” through playing in a dance band or at weddings
and fairs, and many working people relied on multiple sources of income during thenineteenth century, to help combat irregular employment.1341
In 1850, ‘A Factory Woman’ wrote a letter to The Editor of The Working Man’s Friend
listing the weekly income and expenditure of her household. Both she and herhusband were factory workers, with her income totalling seven shillings and six penceand that of her husband, eight shillings and six pence, see Figure 143.1342 After weekly
expenditure of rent, food, childcare, washing, sick club and burial club etc., they had
one pence spare a week which she spent on the publication of The Working Man’s
Friend.
1335

John Burnett, A History of the Cost of Living, 2nd edn, (Hampshire: Gregg Revivals, 1993), p. 254.
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 15.
1337
Ibid.
1338
Nye, 'A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness', p. 15.
1339
Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham Being Recollections of Henry Burstow. The Celebrated Bellringer& Songsinger, p. 23.
1340
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 33.
1341
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 9; Gammon, 'Popular Music in
Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914'.33
1342
J J A Factory Woman, 'A Factory Woman's Letter', The Working Man's Friend, and Family Instructor,
2, No 15 for week ending Sat April 13th 1850 (March 18 1850), 54<https://archive.org/stream/workingmansfrien01lond#page/n501/mode/2up/search/factory >.
1336

404

Figure 143 : Extract from A Working Man's Friend, 1850. Source: https://archive.org (Brigham Young University
Library).

Compared to Gammon’s figures for an agricultural worker, these numbers are on the
low side, a trend which appears to have reversed by the beginning of the twentiethcentury (see below). I have inserted a simplified version of the incomes given by
Bowley in his Estimated Budget of the Median Family in 1860, 1880 and 1914 (seeFigure 144),1343 (I have removed calorific value and estimated units). His figures would
tally with the Factory Woman’s actual figures as wages were rising fast between 1850
and 1860.1344

1343

A. L. Bowley, Wages and Income in the United Kingdom since 1860 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1937) <https://books.google.co.uk> [Accessed 4 May 2016].
1344
Burnett, A History of the Cost of Living, p. 254.

405

Estimated Budget of the Median Family in 1860, 1880 and 1914
‘Family’ = man, wife and three schoolchildren, or 3.87 ‘men’
Date:
Wage:

1860
20s. 6d.
s
d
5
3
1
7½
10 ½
9
7½

1880
26s. 6d.
s
d
4
7
2
4
11 ½
6
1
3

1914
35s. 6d.
s
D
5
3
7
1
1
5½
7
1
9¾
3
6¾
1
9
1
3
3
6
10 ¾
11 ¼
22
7

Bread
Meat
Bacon
Suet, etc.
ButterMargarine
Cheese2
4½
Milk, fresh 1018Potatoes19110Vegetables
Rice, etc.
2
4
Tea
6
1
0¾
Sugar
1
0 1/2
1
2
TOTAL
13
9
16
0¾
FOOD
Rent
3
3
6
5
0
Fuel, etc.
1
1
6
1
6
Clothing
1
6
2
0
2
6
Sundries
1
3
3
5¼
3
11
TOTAL
20
6
26
6
35
6
Figure 144 : ‘Estimated Budget of Median Family’, Bowley. Source: https://books.google.co.uk.

Whilst Bowley’s diachronic comparison is interesting, ‘The Factory Woman’s’ figures,
despite dating slightly before the time period in question, are the most useful in termsof assessing affordability by low earners. They provide a thorough breakdown toenable disposable income for items such as musical resources, concert admission andtravel to be assessed. Bowley’s classification of ‘sundries’ is not specific enough to beable to deduce real disposable income, once other items such as those on ‘The Factory
Woman’s’ budget are accounted for (such as childcare, sick club and burial club).
Meanwhile, Burnett gives the following figures (Figure 145),1345 for wages for asouthern agricultural labourer:
Year
1860
1866
1867-71
1872
1880

Daily Wage

42d
46d

Weekly Wage
11s 7d13s
10s 6d(19s 3d)(21s 1d)Figure 145 : Table based on the figures given by Bowley. Source: Burnett.

1345

Ibid. pp. 250-51.

406

These figures (those in brackets are calculated based on a five and a half day working
week from the daily wage figures given by Bowley), do not include any wages thatwives and children may be bringing in to the household which may account for theirmarked reduction compared to Bowley’s estimated budget above.
Although there appears to be a dramatic rise between 1867 and 1872 this is consistent
with Bowley’s real-time chart (see Figure 146),1346 which considers the flux of wages
with that of prices to arrive at a ‘Real Time’ wage:
Period1830-1852
1852-1870
1870-1873
1873-1879
1879-1887
1887-1892
1892-1897

Nominal Wages
Nearly Stationary
Rising Fast
Rising Very Fast
Falling Fast
Nearly Stationary
RisingNearly Stationary

Prices
Falling Slowly
RisingRising Fast
Falling Fast
Falling
Rising and Falling
Falling

Real Wages
Rising Slowly
Rising Considerably
Rising Fast
Nearly Stationary
RisingRisingRisingFigure 146 : Bowley's ‘Real Time Wages’. Source: Burnett.

Whilst these figures might reflect the earnings closer to those of Hampton andTill/Clutterbuck, Burnett states that the semi-skilled and skilled (for example Bennett
the blacksmith) would be substantially better off,1347 on a ratio of 5 : 3.3 : 2.4. It might
be fair to say that in 1860, at the time of his manuscript (and before the 1870s rural
slump), Bennett was earning approximately one pound, four shillings and four pence.
However, this contradicts Gammon’s findings who draws attention to the fact that
although artisans or skilled workers possessed higher skills, they still were notespecially wealthy, earning only a few more shilling per week than an agriculturallabourer.1348
According to Burnett’s chart, Till/Clutterbuck, in 1866 would have been earning aroundthirteen shillings a week and Hampton as a general labourer/skinner, the poorest at
about ten shillings a week. That said, Hampton was employed in a city and thesefigures represent rural earnings. Burnett lists a mid-century semi-skilled urban worker

1346

Ibid. p. 254.
It is worth considering that the jobs recorded in the census returns are only snapshots for thatmoment. Jobs were not secure and the assumption that they held these jobs for the ten-year period
between the censuses cannot be assumed.
1348
Gammon, 'Popular Music in Rural Society : Sussex 1815 - 1914', p. 33.
1347

407

as earning between fifteen shillings and one pound a week.1349 Whilst directcomparison figures do not appear to exist, comparative figures from the turn of the
century suggest that at that time, urban workers were better paid than their ruralcounterparts.
Burnett takes his figures from the first ever survey by the Board of Trade, dated 1903-4
which lists the average agricultural labourer’s wage as eighteen shillings and six pence(which is considerably lower than the figure given in the above table), and urban
workmen earning an average of twenty-nine shillings and ten pence a week. Thissuggests a substantial difference of eleven shillings and four pence between the two,
although the cost of food alone for urban workers was four shillings and nine pence
more.
That said, Bowley’s real time wages chart suggests that Hampton, as the latest of thecompilers had a harder time due to real wages remaining stagnant in 1873-79, yet
Burnett contradicts this. He quotes G H Wood’s scale and sees an improvement inworking-class standards between 1873 and 1896:…in a period of falling prices which contemporaries designated the ‘Great
Depression’… on which the G. H. Wood scale (1850 = 100) average retail prices
fell from 125 to 83, while money-wages remained almost stationary …The
result was that real wages increased from 128 (1850 = 100) in 1873 to 176 in
1896, easily the biggest gain in the century.1350
Burnett continues in this positive tone declaring that “the working classes were now
taking their first great strides out of that poverty which had been their lot for
generations past”;1351 perhaps Hampton’s fortunes were on the rise.
What conclusions can be drawn from these conflicting figures in terms of affordabilityof lower classes to access resources? Most of the sources do not give an indication ofrent, food and other costs. Individual cases cited in Burnett are so variable withregards to employment status and also not detailed enough to draw substantial
conclusions. For example, we know that an urban semi-skilled worker mid-century had

1349

Burnett, A History of the Cost of Living, p. 263.
Ibid. p. 256.
1351
Ibid.
1350

408

five-and-a-half pence left for sundries each week,1352 but apart from food (including
household goods such as soap and coal), rent, schooling and sundries he provides nomore detail. It is possible that the sundries were required for thread or a cheap
newspaper such as The Working Man’s Friend, rather than indicating disposable
income to save towards a copy of music or instrument, or for a night out at a concert
or Music Hall.
A fair conclusion might be that despite not being able to ascertain accurate figures,increased leisure time and a potential rise in real-time wages would doubtless result in
more time to absorb society’s musical culture, acquire skills and resources, practise,participate and copy out tunes. However, the evidence suggests that during the midlast quarter of the century, regular expenditure of even one shilling to attend aconcert,1353 would be excessive. Even the cheaper three pence entry into a London
Music Hall, which in reality would cost more due to further expenses incurred once
inside,1354 was unaffordable when taking into account travel costs for rural compilers.
So too paying the full price of eighteen pence for a copy of Chappell’s ‘Cheap
Works’,1355 would be prohibitive and, even a reduction at a third of the published priceat six pence, if attainable at all would have been an extravagant luxury.

1352

Ibid. p. 263.
See Chapter 3.
1354
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 91.
1355
See Chapter 4.
1353

409

Appendix I – Travel – A Wider Perspective
The following section details my research looking at the non-musicological aspect of
the compilers’ ability to travel. Having established that they had little disposable
income, I wanted to see what opportunities were open to them to travel outside theirvillage and “go foreign”,1356 particularly the rural compilers who are considered bysome to be isolated.1357 This would have an impact on whether they could travel tourban areas to attend concerts which could influence their choice of repertoire, buy
printed copies of music, and travel to participate and perform.
The affordability of travel is a contentious subject in wider literature. Bearman argues
that, “It is mistaken to assume that because railways, or canals, or stage coaches, areavailable, everyone has equal access to them…Apart from the railways – if you could
afford them – and the carrier’s cart, there was no public transport in rural Somerset
even in the early 1900s. Remoteness, to most people, meant that everyday journeys
were limited to the distance they could walk”.1358 On the other hand, Scott argues thattravelling by train was a viable option: “the railways gave a boost to the musicbusiness: they facilitated touring, they enabled people to travel to events (especiallywhen train travel became cheaper in the 1860s and 1870s)”.1359
New legislation in 1844, proposed by Gladstone forced rail companies to offer a daily
weekday service for third class passengers at the cost of one pence per mile. 1360
However, prices relating to later in the century cannot be found in order to confirm
Scott’s findings. Although seemingly cheap, as laid out in Appendix H, one penny permile in 1844 would still be prohibitive for lower-class people wishing to travel several
miles (i.e. further than they could walk), purely for a leisure trip to a concert or to buy
musical materials. However, evidence from newspaper reports suggest that on public
holidays special ‘excursion trains’ were put on to take pleasure-seekers to London andit appears that these were offered at favourable rates for the working classes. An
1356

Baring-Gould, Old Country Life, p. 241.
Roud, Folk Song in England, p. 28.
1358
Bearman, 'Who Were the Folk? The Demography of Cecil Sharp's Somerset Folk Singers', p. 772.
1359
Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New
York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 19.
1360
Dr Mark F. Bailey, '"The 1844 Railway Act : A Violation of Laissez-Faire Political Economy?"', (Nodate), <http://www.socsci.ulst.ac.uk/econpolitics/profiles/mf.bailey/bailey_1844.pdf> [accessed 14
January 2017].
1357

410

excerpt was shown in Chapter 5 with regards to Penny Concerts, and further examples
exist, 1361 including this 1858 advert shown in Figure 147,1362 from The Cheltenham
Chronicle:

Figure 147 : Excerpt from Cheltenham Chronicle, 1851. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED.

Institutes organised excursions too. This example shown in Figure 148,1363 refers to the
Shepton Mallet Mechanics’ Institute in 1883:

Figure 148 : Excerpt from Western Gazette, 1883. Source: © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

It is reasonable to assume that middle-class compilers could access larger concert
towns relatively easily by train. However, lower-class people, although not excluded
from such travel, would likely find their ability was limited to specially arranged
excursions. Even with that in mind, it is worth referring to an 1865 newspaper report inwhich the reporter explicitly states that despite being:
well aware that in these days of excursion trains most persons haveopportunities of going places of amusement at a distance – to such places, forinstance, as the Crystal Palace and the Metropolis. Still, there is a large mass ofpeople who earn their bread by their daily labour and have neither the meansnor the time to go to such places…1364

1361'The Whitsuntide Holiday', Reading Mercury, 11 June 1881,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> p. 5.
1362'Easter Holidays', Cheltenham Chronicle, 30 March 1858,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 30 March 2017] p. 4.
1363'Excursion', Western Gazette, 27 April 1883, <http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>[accessed 17 March 2016] p. 7.
1364'Penny Concerts'. Leamington Spa Courier, 1865, p8.

411

Bowen and Shepherd, in discussing the movements of musicians and tunes in theearlier nineteenth century say that:
The great improvement in roads in Joshua Jackson’s time led to easier andfaster travel…A good road surface enabled horses pulling coaches and carts totrot there they had previously walked…Travel by stage coach was also relatively
easy and fast…
although they acknowledge that this method is more appropriate for tune
dissemination via rich landowners rather than a means for lower classes to travel. Thatsaid, they assert that, “Journeys of 12 to 15 miles to attend or play for an evening
dance or concert would not have presented a problem for a miller and a farmer”,1365
although they do not specify by what means.
Whilst carrier carts may have been their mode of travel, I am unable to find prices andhence availability to the lower classes. Evidence largely suggests that the chief meansof transport to a wider environment amongst the lower occupational classes was byfoot. Oral narrative shows that fiddler, Scan Tester walked ten miles both ways to playin a pub every Saturday night, “no matter what the weather was”.1366 Nye walked
twelve miles to attend chapel with his wife’s aunt,1367 Hardy walked the three miles to
Dorchester to play,1368 and Russell states that “in 1850 three members of a Keighleyband walked the twenty-mile round trip to Bradford in order to attend a Jullien
concert”.1369 So too, Ainsworth notes that the gap between rural and urban was
narrowing with rural inhabitants regularly travelling to a semi-urban workplace, andthat, “a traditional way of life co-existed with the partial domination of the new modeof production”.1370 Therefore, even if travel was limited due to financial constraints, itappears that a differing cultural norm existed from today and lower occupationalclasses were able to travel substantial distances even if this was by foot.

1365

Bowen and others Tunes, Songs & Dances from the 1798 Manuscript of Joshua Jackson North
Yorkshire Corn Miller and Musician, Volume One, p. 9.
1366
Hall, 'Scan Tester "I Never Played to Many Posh Dances" Mt215', p. 35.
1367
He does admit that after some time, he “began to lose my comforts. And when I was in chapel I was
so sleepy that I heard little or nothing about the sermon”. Nye, 'A Small Account of My Travels throughthe Wilderness', p. 18.
1368
Trim and others The Musical Heritage of Thomas Hardy.
1369
Russell, Popular Music in England, 1840 - 1914. A Social History, p. 78.
1370
Ainsworth, 'Religion in the Working Class Community, and the Evolution of Socialism in Late
Nineteenth Century Lancashire: A Case of Working Class Consciousness ', p. 360.

412

Appendix J – Illiteracy – A Wider Perspective
The problems of establishing literacy levels amongst nineteenth-century working
classes have been introduced in the main body of the thesis. The following discussion
surveys wider literature to investigate illiteracy further. Problems evaluating
nineteenth-century literacy levels amongst the working classes not only lie in different
statistical interpretations but result partly from the group under consideration nothaving a significant presence in the historical record. This in turn possibly accounts forthe lack of enquiry amongst literary historians. Rose notes neglect in the field since
Altick’s 1957 seminal book The English Common Reader.1371 Notwithstanding Vincent’s
collection of oral narratives and working-class autobiographies,1372 Rose feels that
there is still “an unwritten critical chapter in the history of what were once called ‘theinarticulate masses’- who, it turns out, had a great deal to say”.1373 Lemire believes aperiod of research did exist albeit brief. Writing specifically about nineteenth-century
literacy she notes that “most of the research on literacy rates appears to have been
done in a thirty-year period roughly between 1960 and 1990”.1374 Research was carriedout during this time, principally by Vincent and Stephens, although being based largelyon the statistics of marriage registers, the reliability of their data is somewhat unstable
and was revealed in Chapter 4.1375
However, with little else to refer to, it is worth quoting Stephen’s figures. He finds that,based on marriage certificate signatures, literacy levels were 58% in 1840, rising to
61% (69% male) in 1850, 76% (80% male) in 1870, 88% (89% male) in 1885, rising tonearly 100% by the end of the century.1376 His figures relate relatively well to Altick’s
who finds that male literacy levels were 69.3% in 1851.1377 This is interesting as itsuggests that over the approximate period of manuscript compilation, despite being
before compulsory education, literacy levels were growing dramatically (from 61% to1371

Jonathan Rose, 'Rereading the English Common Reader: A Preface to a History of Audiences', Journalof the History of Ideas, 53. 1 (1992), 47-70 (p. 48).
1372
David Vincent, Bread, Knowledge and Freedom: A Study of Nineteenth-Century Working Class
Autobiography, (London: Methuen, 1982).
1373
Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, p. 3.
1374
Lemire, 'A Historiographical Survey of Literacy in Britain between 1780 and 1830', p. 249.
1375
Vincent, Literacy and Popular Culture : England 1750-1914; W. B. Stephens, 'Literacy in England,
Scotland, and Wales, 1500-1900', History of Education Quarterly, 30. 4 (1990), 545-71; W. B. Stephens,
Educations, Literacy and Society 1830-70, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987).
1376
Stephens, 'Literacy in England, Scotland, and Wales, 1500-1900', p. 555.
1377
Altick, The English Common Reader, p. 171.

413

89%). This would suggest a discernible source for the skill exists. It also suggests that if
the trend noted in the compilers’ marriage certificates is a reflection of wider practicethen in reality these figures could be even higher.
In the field of musicology rather than literary history, Sykes quotes an 1841 report by
The Journal of the Statistical Society of London stating that 21% of people aged
fourteen and over, from three rural parishes in Essex could both read and write, 24%
could read and only 22% could do neither.1378 He quotes Webb’s estimate that in the
1840s, “‘about two-thirds to three-quarters of the working classes, perhaps nearer theformer than the latter’, were literate”,1379 presenting a much wider capability than isgenerally accepted. Atkinson proposes that the rate of literacy had, “by the turn of thenineteenth century…reached levels of around the ninety per cent mark”.1380 Looking
for evidence amongst contemporary literature reveals magazines published and priced
for the lower-class mass market such as Cassell’s Working Man’s Friend, and Dickens’
Household World, suggesting a capable readership amongst this demographic. Flora
Thompson also asserts that literacy was more widespread than might be supposed.1381
Amongst autobiographical sources we learn that rural, working-class musician, Nye,born 1822 went to school for one year “and learnt but very little, so that I was almost
without learning. But by self practise I learnt to read and write a little”,1382 although it
is not clear whether he taught himself as a boy or an adult. Gammon notes that Nyesigned the marriage register.1383 The marriage was in 1845, so at the very least he wascapable of writing his name at the age of twenty-three. Singer, James Copper, alsorural and working-class was born in 1845. Despite being one of nine children, whose
father was on low wages as a farm carter, he briefly attended a Dame school andlearnt to “say his book”.1384 His experiences are recorded in the main body of thethesis.

1378

Sykes, 'The Evolution of Englishness in the English Folksong Revival, 1890-1914', p. 455.
Ibid.
1380
Atkinson, 'Folk Songs in Print: Text and Tradition', p. 466.
1381
Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford.
1382
Nye, 'A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness'.
1383
Vic Gammon, 'Notes', in A Small Account of My Travels through the Wilderness James Nye, ed. by Vic
Gammon (Brighton: QueenSparks, 1860-1888), pp. 49-51 (p. 49).
1384
Copper, A Song for Every Season, pp. 5-8.
1379

414

This research has shown that literacy levels appear to be widespread even amongst
the lower occupational classes. This would be even more so when potential higher
results are being hidden by the skewed marriage certificate statistics.

415

Appendix K – Biographies of Key Composers
Frank Musgrave
Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC) Worldcat Identities give Musgrave’s birth anddeath dates as 1834-1888,1385 which differ from that suggested by the 1871 census
implying he was born in 1839 in Middlesex, London. He is listed as working as MusicalCompositor, lodging in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, and by 1881, aged fortyfive,1386 Musgrave elevated to the status of Professor of Music, lodging in Fulham Road.
The large number of contemporary newspaper advertisements indicates he was aprolific composer throughout the latter half of the nineteenth-century, with manymagazines and tune books containing new compositions by him. He was MusicalDirector of the Strand Theatre in 1865 and by 1873 held the lease of the Theatre Royal,
Nottingham. During the 1870s he toured with self-composed operettas, and prior to
his appointment at The Strand Theatre he wrote, “mostly dance music (quadrilles,
valses and polkas…), arrangements and ‘nigger songs’”. 1387
W H Montgomery
Baptised in 1810,1388 he was the son of a comedian,1389 and although he cannot befound in early census records, in 1843, at the time of his marriage to Maria Izard, he
was listed as a musician, aged 33. The 1861 census lists him as Professor of Music living
in Islington, with his wife and thirteen-year-old daughter.1390 In 1881, although stillworking as a Professor of Music,1391 he was lodging at 189 Oxford Street, London, his

1385

OCLC Worldcat Identities, 'Musgrave, Frank 1834-1888', OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
(2010) <http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82227810/> [accessed 10 December 2015].
1386
Thus suggesting a further birth date of 1836.
1387
Philip L Scowcroft, 'A Forty-Eighth Garland of British Music Composers', MusicWeb International<http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/48.htm> [accessed 1st September 2015].
1388'William Henry Montgomery', Baptism Record Record for William Henry Montgomery, 1810 (London
Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812; P92/Geo/147)<https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed
1389'William Henry Montgomery', Marriage Record for William Henry Montgomery, 1843 (London
Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Church of England Parish Registers, 1754-1931; P92/Geo/190)<https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed
1390'William Henry Montgomery', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 125; Folio: 3; Page: 2;
GSU roll: 542578), <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 3 March 2018].
1391'William Henry Montgomery', 1881 England Census Return (Class: RG11; Piece: 143; Folio: 84; Page:
10; GSU roll: 1341032), <https://www.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 3 March 2018].

416

wife in a cancer hospital in St Pancras.1392 Montgomery died in 1886 and is buried in
Norwood cemetery.1393
Haydn Millars
Haydn Millars was baptised on 6th February 1837 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire,1394
remaining there as a surveyor’s clerk and writer, living with his father John, a masterjoiner and mother Mary.1395 By 1861 he had moved to Bloomsbury, London, living withhis two sisters and mother, who ran a boarding house,1396 where he is listed as ‘Prof.
music’. Newspaper articles show he was the conductor of the St George’s Rifle
Regiment Band, selecting his own compositions for the programmes.1397 One example
comes from an enthusiastic review of a concert given in St James’ Hall, 1863,1398 which
also included a composition by celebrity composer and conductor Jullien and celebrity
singer, Mr Sims Reeves, performing, suggesting Haydn Millars was becoming part ofthe established popular music scene in London. In 1872 he married Isabella Jemima
Lucas in Tendring, Essex,1399 and in 1881, was working as a Director and Composer ofMusic, living in Regents Park, London with his wife, three young children and aservant.1400 Ten years later, aged 54, they had moved to Holborn and he was listed as a

1392

His wife was in a cancer hospital in St Pancras. 'Maria Montgomery', 1881 England Census Return(Class: RG11; Piece: 181; Folio: 14; Page: 3; GSU roll: 1341039), <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 3
March 2018].
1393'William Henry Montgomery', Burial Record for William Henry Montgomery, 1886 (London
Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Board of Guardian Records, 1834-1906/Church of England
Parish Registers, 1813-1906; Dw/T/0943) <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 2 March 2018].
1394'Francis Joseph Mellars', Baptism Record for Francis Joseph Mellars, (England, Select Births andChristenings, 1538-1975. Fhl Film Number: 504068, 504070, 504543)<https://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 18 March 2018].
1395'Joseph Mellars', 1851 England Census Return (Class: HO107; Piece: 2122; Folio: 52; Page: 18; GSU
roll: 87752), <https://search.ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 17 March 2018].
1396'Frances J Millar', 1861 England Census Return (Class: RG 9; Piece: 165; Folio: 18; Page: 36; GSU roll:542584), <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 17 March 2018].
1397'St James Hall', London Evening Standard, 16 January 1863,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 17 March 2018]; 'St George's Rifles', Volunteer
Service Gazette and Military Dispatch, 21 March 1863, <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk>[accessed 17 March 2018].
1398
St James Hall was home of the ‘Monday “Pops”’, precursor to the ‘Saturday afternoon “Pops”[which] began there in 1865’. Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis : The Nineteenth-Century Popular Music
Revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna, p. 18.
1399'Francis Joseph H Millars', Marriage Record for Francis Joseph H Millars, (England & Wales, Civil
Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915.) <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 17 March 2018].
1400'Hayton Millars', 1881 England Census Return (Class: RG11; Piece: 179; Folio: 60; Page: 42; GSU roll:1341038), <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 7 March 2018].

417

Musical Director.1401 Corroborating evidence is found in newspaper articles, forexample in 1888, directing the Military Band at Alexandra Palace, London,1402 and in
1889, at Hasting’s Exhibition with his own orchestra.1403 He cannot be found in the1901 census, although Isabella and their son, Francis (who is listed as a pianist andflautist), are living in Lancashire. Isabella was ‘living on own means’ and was still
married, indicating her husband was working away.1404 Newspaper articles show thathe travelled widely throughout his career, and in 1898 he was appointed as conductorof the Oystermouth Choral Society in Swansea.1405 By 1911, Isabella had returned to
London as a widow.1406 A date of death cannot be found although research shows that
his music remained in play long after his death, at least until 1923.1407

1401'Francis J H Millars', 1891 England Census Return (The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew,
Surrey, England; Class: RG12; Piece: 218; Folio: 119; Page: 21), <https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 18
March 2018].
1402'Alexandra Palace - This Day', St James's Gazette, 18 May 1888,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 18 March 2018].
1403'The Exhibition', Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 18 May 1889,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/>.
1404'Isabella Millars', 1901 England Census Return (Class: RG13; Piece: 3487; Folio: 151; Page: 18),<https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 18 March 2018].
1405'Oystermouth Choral Society', South Wales Daily News, 10 September 1898,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 18 March 2018].
1406'Isabella Millars', 1911 England Census Return (Class: RG14; Piece: 2343),<https://ancestry.co.uk>[accessed 18 March 2018].
1407'Jamming in Dundee and District', Dundee Evening Telegraph, 16 March 1923,<http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk> [accessed 18 March 2018].

418

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