Rev. John Broadwood (13 May 1798 – 26 January 1864) was the first English folk song collector.

Life and legacy

He was born in 1798 in Marylebone, London, the son of James Shudi Broadwood and the grandson of

John Broadwood John Broadwood (6 October 1732 – 17 July 1812) was the Scottish founder of the piano manufacturer Broadwood and Sons. Life Broadwood was born 6 October 1732 and christened 15 Oct 1732 at St Helens, Cockburnspath in Berwickshire, and grew up in ...

, both piano makers in London. When he was young, his family moved to the Broadwood family home: Lyne House in

Capel, Surrey Capel () is a village and civil parish in southern Surrey, England. It is equidistant between Dorking and Horsham – about away. Around Capel, to the west, skirts the A24 road. Capel is approximately north of the West Sussex border, south ...

. In 1825, he married Charlotte King of

Loxwood Loxwood is a small village and civil parish with several outlying settlements, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, within the Low Weald. The Wey and Arun Canal passes to the East and South of the village. This Civil Parish is at t ...

, Sussex. He was a clergyman, and officiated at a wedding in 1850. In the 1851 Census of Horsham he is living at

Wiggonholt Wiggonholt is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is southeast of Pulborough on the A283 road. The village consists of a farm, a few houses and a small Church of England parish church. The RSPB Pulborough Brooks wil ...

and is described as the "Curate of Wiggonholt". He died at Lyne House in 1864. He is known for the book or pamphlet dated 1843, originally published anonymously, usually known as ''Old English Songs''. It contains 16 folk songs, "set to music exactly as they are now sung", and with the words "given in their original rough state with an occasional slight alteration to render the sense intelligible". His niece, the noted song collector

Lucy Broadwood Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (9 August 1858 – 22 August 1929) was an English folksong collector and researcher, and great-granddaughter of John Broadwood, founder of the piano manufacturers Broadwood and Sons. As one of the founder members of the Fo ...

, said that ''Old English Songs'' "is the first serious collection of English traditional songs that we possess"; and related that he insisted to George A. Dusart, the

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

church organist who arranged ''Old English Songs'' for publication, that the songs should be set down exactly as he had heard them. According to the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, he "is to be honoured in the annals of English folk-song". In 1943, the music critic

Frank Howes Frank Stewart Howes (2 April 1891 – 28 September 1974) was an English music critic. From 1943 to 1960 he was chief music critic of ''The Times''. From his student days Howes gravitated towards criticism as his musical specialism, guided by the a ...

wrote a scholarly article about him to "celebrate the centenary year of scientific method applied editorially to the oral tradition of English folk-song".

''Old English Songs''

The title page

This reads as follows:Half Man Half Biscuit (2000),

Trouble over Bridgwater Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

, CD inlay.

The songs

The 16 songs collected by Broadwood are reproduced in a book which the authors have released online into the public domain under a

Creative Commons licence A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...

. Alternative titles and (where identified) Roud Folk Song Index numbers and other information are included in parentheses. # "The Moon Shines Bright" (702) # " A Wassail, A Wassail" (209) # "The Noble Lord" # "Rosebuds in June" (812) # "A Sweet Country Life" (2406) # "The Ploughboy" ("The Jolly Ploughboy", "Come All You Jolly Ploughboys") (202) # "The Privateer" # "The Fourteenth of July" (980) # "Gipsy Song" # "The Husbandman" (873?) # "

The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" is a traditional England, English Folk music, folk song. It is numbered as Child ballads, Child ballad 105, and as Roud Folk Song Index, Roud number 483. Synopsis The ballad concerns a young Squire#Village ...

" (483) ( Child Ballad No. 105) # "The Poacher's Song" (" Thorny Moor Woods") (222) # "In Lancashire" # "Come Listen" # "The Woodcutter" ("Harvest Supper Song") (310) # " Lord Bateman" (40) (Child Ballad No. 53)

External links

*
Biography at Sussexpeople website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadwood, John 1798 births Date of birth unknown 1864 deaths English folk-song collectors People from Marylebone People from Horsham District 19th-century musicologists