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[[image:henry_burstow_cropped.jpg|left|Henry Burstow: frontispiece, Reminiscences of Horsham, cropped image]]Henry Burstow, 1826-1916, [[Sussex]] singer and bellringer. Collected by [[Lucy Broadwood]] and [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]. | [[image:henry_burstow_cropped.jpg|left|Henry Burstow: frontispiece, Reminiscences of Horsham, cropped image]]Henry Burstow, 1826-1916, [[Sussex]] singer and bellringer. Collected by [[Lucy Broadwood]] and [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]. | ||
He was born on 11th December 1826 at 34 The Bishopric, Horsham, West Sussex, the second youngest of nine children. His father William Burstow (born 1781) worked as a clay tobacco-pipe maker, assisted by his wife Ellen (died 1857). The Bishopric, commonly known as “The Rookery”, was the poorest and roughest part of Horsham, and the Burstow home served, in Henry’s own words, as “‘factory’, dwelling house and shop” (Reminiscences p9). A shoemaker for all of his working life, Burstow’s fame rests principally upon his singing: the size of his repertoire, and his importance to the late nineteenth / early twentieth century English folksong revival. We know more about his life than that of the average nineteenth century artisan through the writings of folksong collector [[Lucy Broadwood]], and his own “Reminiscences of Horsham”, put together and brought into print by Horsham local historian William Albery. | He was born on 11th December 1826 at 34 The Bishopric, Horsham, West Sussex, the second youngest of nine children. His father William Burstow (born 1781) worked as a clay tobacco-pipe maker, assisted by his wife Ellen (died 1857). The Bishopric, commonly known as “The Rookery”, was the poorest and roughest part of Horsham, and the Burstow home served, in Henry’s own words, as “‘factory’, dwelling house and shop” (Reminiscences p9 [http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/burstow/burstow_1.html#9]). A shoemaker for all of his working life, Burstow’s fame rests principally upon his singing: the size of his repertoire, and his importance to the late nineteenth / early twentieth century English folksong revival. We know more about his life than that of the average nineteenth century artisan through the writings of folksong collector [[Lucy Broadwood]], and his own “Reminiscences of Horsham”, put together and brought into print by Horsham local historian William Albery. | ||
Burstow began to attend the infant school run by a Miss Sayers in the Bishopric “almost as soon as I could toddle” (Reminiscences p22) | Burstow began to attend the infant school run by a Miss Sayers in the Bishopric “almost as soon as I could toddle” (Reminiscences p22 [http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/burstow/burstow_2.html#22]), with his first year’s fees paid for by a generous Quaker, Mr Pollard. He subsequently attended the Horsham British Schools, the Church School (from 1834) and Collyer’s Free School (1838-1840). | ||
In 1840 he was apprenticed to Jim Vaughan to learn the boot and shoemaking trade. This was an important local industry which employed forty to fifty men, “good hard-workers and sound beer-drinkers to a man” (Reminiscences p23). For the first year Burstow worked for no pay. In the second he earned two shillings a week, and this rose by one shilling a week at the end of each year that he spent in apprenticeship. After spending around ten years with Vaughan, he went to work for Mr Gilburd, with whom he stayed until 1880, making mainly women’s boots at one shilling and sixpence a pair. Burstow records that on average he earned fifteen shillings a week, for a week’s work of sixty to seventy hours. He never earned more than nineteen shillings and sixpence - and this in a week when he made thirteen pairs of boots, working every available hour. | In 1840 he was apprenticed to Jim Vaughan to learn the boot and shoemaking trade. This was an important local industry which employed forty to fifty men, “good hard-workers and sound beer-drinkers to a man” (Reminiscences p23 [http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/burstow/burstow_2.html#23]). For the first year Burstow worked for no pay. In the second he earned two shillings a week, and this rose by one shilling a week at the end of each year that he spent in apprenticeship. After spending around ten years with Vaughan, he went to work for Mr Gilburd, with whom he stayed until 1880, making mainly women’s boots at one shilling and sixpence a pair. Burstow records that on average he earned fifteen shillings a week, for a week’s work of sixty to seventy hours. He never earned more than nineteen shillings and sixpence - and this in a week when he made thirteen pairs of boots, working every available hour. | ||
Henry Burstow married Elizabeth Pratt (1833 - 1909), the daughter of a Horsham gardener, in 1855. On his wedding day Burstow rang peals “all day long” (Remiscences p102) in company with seven other shoemakers, including the Warnham musician and parish clerk [[Michael Turner]]. | Henry Burstow married Elizabeth Pratt (1833 - 1909), the daughter of a Horsham gardener, in 1855. On his wedding day Burstow rang peals “all day long” (Remiscences p102 [http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/burstow/burstow_bellringing_2.html#102]) in company with seven other shoemakers, including the Warnham musician and parish clerk [[Michael Turner]]. | ||
Burstow took up bellringing soon after he was apprenticed, at the instigation of John Vaughan, his master’s father, who was Sexton and head bellringer (and who paid his three shilling entrance fee). Bell-ringing became one of his chief pursuits, which he pursued until very late in life. Burstow regretted that when he joined the belfry the Horsham ringers had neither the skill nor the inclination to recreate the change-ringing feats of their late eighteenth century predecessors. However Burstow made the acquaintance of ringers at other parishes - principally Warnham and Newdigate - and was able to develop his own skills. He became well-known locally as a ringer, and in the 1860’s Horsham again became a place where change-ringing records were set. | Burstow took up bellringing soon after he was apprenticed, at the instigation of John Vaughan, his master’s father, who was Sexton and head bellringer (and who paid his three shilling entrance fee). Bell-ringing became one of his chief pursuits, which he pursued until very late in life. Burstow regretted that when he joined the belfry the Horsham ringers had neither the skill nor the inclination to recreate the change-ringing feats of their late eighteenth century predecessors. However Burstow made the acquaintance of ringers at other parishes - principally Warnham and Newdigate - and was able to develop his own skills. He became well-known locally as a ringer, and in the 1860’s Horsham again became a place where change-ringing records were set. | ||
Burstow rang in 55 Sussex, Surrey and Kent churches, and taught in 15 of these. Both ringing and teaching brought in welcome supplementary income, but they fulfilled primarily a social function. He recalls that at one time he would walk the eight miles to Newdigate every Saturday evening, ring for around three hours, then “adjourn to the ‘Six Bells’ Public House for a jollification, drinking and smoking and song singing in turn” (Reminiscences p99) - although it is worth noting that Burstow himself neither smoked nor drank. Leaving home after midnight he would then walk back to Horsham, returning home between two and three o’clock. | Burstow rang in 55 Sussex, Surrey and Kent churches, and taught in 15 of these. Both ringing and teaching brought in welcome supplementary income, but they fulfilled primarily a social function. He recalls that at one time he would walk the eight miles to Newdigate every Saturday evening, ring for around three hours, then “adjourn to the ‘Six Bells’ Public House for a jollification, drinking and smoking and song singing in turn” (Reminiscences p99 [http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/burstow/burstow_bellringing_2.html#99]) - although it is worth noting that Burstow himself neither smoked nor drank. Leaving home after midnight he would then walk back to Horsham, returning home between two and three o’clock. | ||
In an age when singing and music-making were very much a part of everyday life, Burstow was recognised within his community as a singer of note. He kept a list (reprinted in “Reminiscences”) of 420 songs which he knew by heart. Of these he had learned 84 from his father, who himself knew some 200 songs, and some from his mother. Burstow records the names and occupations of other men from whom he learned songs: some were learned from fellow workers or bellringers, some at “Country Wills” in the taprooms of local public houses - the words often exchanged for a pint of beer - while others came from ballad sheets bought at fairs. | In an age when singing and music-making were very much a part of everyday life, Burstow was recognised within his community as a singer of note. He kept a list (reprinted in “Reminiscences” [http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/burstow/burstow_songs.html#114]) of 420 songs which he knew by heart. Of these he had learned 84 from his father, who himself knew some 200 songs, and some from his mother. Burstow records the names and occupations of other men from whom he learned songs: some were learned from fellow workers or bellringers, some at “Country Wills” in the taprooms of local public houses - the words often exchanged for a pint of beer - while others came from ballad sheets bought at fairs. | ||
In 1892-93 he lent his list of songs to [[Lucy Broadwood]]. In common with other collectors of the period she had strong preconceptions as to what was worth preserving, and she selected the 50 or 60 songs from the list which she considered to be “of the traditional ballad type” (English Traditional Songs and Carols p xi). Burstow visited Broadwood’s home at Lyne near Rusper and she collected 46 songs from him in all (in practice Broadwood, or the Horsham organist Herbert Buttifant, noted down the tune, while Burstow would write out the words and send them on to her). Subsequently more of Burstow’s songs were noted by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], who lived at Leith Hill Place in Surrey (31 songs collected between 1903 and 1907) and W.H.Gill (a small number in 1911). Many of these were published in books such as Broadwood’s “English Traditional Songs and Carols” and in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society. Singers from Sussex provided a disproportionately large number of items in the early Journals, and of these 118 titles Burstow was the source of 31. It is ironic, however, that the collectors’ romantic vision of illiterate singers living in rural isolation simply did not fit the facts of Burstow’s life. | In 1892-93 he lent his list of songs to [[Lucy Broadwood]]. In common with other collectors of the period she had strong preconceptions as to what was worth preserving, and she selected the 50 or 60 songs from the list which she considered to be “of the traditional ballad type” (English Traditional Songs and Carols p xi). Burstow visited Broadwood’s home at Lyne near Rusper and she collected 46 songs from him in all (in practice Broadwood, or the Horsham organist Herbert Buttifant, noted down the tune, while Burstow would write out the words and send them on to her). Subsequently more of Burstow’s songs were noted by [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], who lived at Leith Hill Place in Surrey (31 songs collected between 1903 and 1907) and W.H.Gill (a small number in 1911). Many of these were published in books such as Broadwood’s “English Traditional Songs and Carols” and in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society. Singers from Sussex provided a disproportionately large number of items in the early Journals, and of these 118 titles Burstow was the source of 31. It is ironic, however, that the collectors’ romantic vision of illiterate singers living in rural isolation simply did not fit the facts of Burstow’s life. | ||
In 1907 Vaughan Williams phonographed two songs from Burstow. Unfortunately these recordings are now lost, but Lucy Broadwood published a full transcription of one, “Bristol Town” (English Traditional Songs and Carols p114-115), which illustrates the traditional singer’s ability to adapt a song’s tune and phrasing verse by verse. | In 1907 Vaughan Williams phonographed two songs from Burstow. Unfortunately these recordings are now lost, but Lucy Broadwood published a full transcription of one, “Bristol Town” (English Traditional Songs and Carols p114-115), which illustrates the traditional singer’s ability to adapt a song’s tune and phrasing verse by verse. | ||
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The book’s title is apt: it is neither a formal history of the town nor an autobiography (written throughout in Burstow’s own words, Albery’s name appears nowhere in the work). Its importance is in the picture it presents of small town life through the eyes of a working man. Burstow tells us of the hardships of everyday life, of political events (notably the passing of the 1832 Reform Bill, and the corruption and disorder surrounding elections), and of features of the traditional calendar - May Day, November 5th, and St Crispin Day when Horsham performed its own version of “Rough Music”. The book is also an extremely rare example of a traditional singer’s words and thoughts being preserved in print, providing important details on how songs were transmitted, and the social context of music-making. | The book’s title is apt: it is neither a formal history of the town nor an autobiography (written throughout in Burstow’s own words, Albery’s name appears nowhere in the work). Its importance is in the picture it presents of small town life through the eyes of a working man. Burstow tells us of the hardships of everyday life, of political events (notably the passing of the 1832 Reform Bill, and the corruption and disorder surrounding elections), and of features of the traditional calendar - May Day, November 5th, and St Crispin Day when Horsham performed its own version of “Rough Music”. The book is also an extremely rare example of a traditional singer’s words and thoughts being preserved in print, providing important details on how songs were transmitted, and the social context of music-making. | ||
Saved from the Workhouse, Burstow seems to have become something of a local celebrity. He was invited to sing in front of a large audience at a silver band concert in the Kings Head Assembly Room in 1908, while articles on Burstow began to appear in local newspapers and national magazines. These focussed on his singing, his bellringing, his prodigious memory and fascination with figures, and even his atheism. A religious and political freethinker, convinced of the truth of Darwinism and not inclined to conceal his beliefs, Burstow encountered some prejudice - indeed some gave his beliefs as a reason for not contributing to the funds set up to relieve his financial distress. However the Horsham clergy generally accepted his candidly-expressed views - “I fetch ‘em in, and I leaves you to drive ‘em away” the enthusiastic bellringer is reported to have told one vicar (quoted in Reminiscences p xv) - and the Unitarian Albery was able to persuade the Free Church Society to sponsor the publication of | Saved from the Workhouse, Burstow seems to have become something of a local celebrity. He was invited to sing in front of a large audience at a silver band concert in the Kings Head Assembly Room in 1908, while articles on Burstow began to appear in local newspapers and national magazines. These focussed on his singing, his bellringing, his prodigious memory and fascination with figures, and even his atheism. A religious and political freethinker, convinced of the truth of Darwinism and not inclined to conceal his beliefs, Burstow encountered some prejudice - indeed some gave his beliefs as a reason for not contributing to the funds set up to relieve his financial distress. However the Horsham clergy generally accepted his candidly-expressed views - “I fetch ‘em in, and I leaves you to drive ‘em away” the enthusiastic bellringer is reported to have told one vicar (quoted in Reminiscences p xv) - and the Unitarian Albery was able to persuade the Free Church Society to sponsor the publication of “[[Henry Burstow's Reminiscences|Reminiscences]]”. | ||
Burstow died on 30th January 1916 at his home in Spencer’s Road, Horsham and was buried on 4th February at Hill’s Cemetery; several Sussex newspapers carried fairly substantial obituaries. He had lived all his life in the town - the first 42 years in the Bishopric - spending only six nights away from home. The memorial card circulated to his friends bore an epitaph that he had written himself: | Burstow died on 30th January 1916 at his home in Spencer’s Road, Horsham and was buried on 4th February at Hill’s Cemetery; several Sussex newspapers carried fairly substantial obituaries. He had lived all his life in the town - the first 42 years in the Bishopric - spending only six nights away from home. The memorial card circulated to his friends bore an epitaph that he had written himself: | ||
'In ringing and singing I took great delight, | 'In ringing and singing I took great delight,<br/> | ||
And keeping good company by day and by night;<br/> | |||
And keeping good company by day and by night; | Many an hour the bell I have tolled,<br/> | ||
Many an hour the bell I have tolled, | |||
And now I am dead may the Lord receive my soul.' | And now I am dead may the Lord receive my soul.' | ||
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== Henry Burstow's repertoire == | == Henry Burstow's repertoire == | ||
#[[Boney's Farewell to Paris]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Boney in St. Helena]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Boney's Lamentation]] | |||
#[[Deeds of Napoleon]] | |||
#[[Dream of Napoleon]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Grand Conversation on Napoleon, The|The Grand Conversation of Napoleon]] | |||
#[[The Soldier's Dream]] | |||
#[[The Soldier's Tear]] | |||
#[[The tired Soldier]] | |||
#[[The poor worn out Soldier]] | |||
#[[The Old Soldier's Daughter]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Old Deserter]] | |||
#[[The New Deserter]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Stinson, the Deserter]] | |||
#[[The Sailor's Dream]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Mary's Dream]] | |||
#[[The Wife's Dream]] | |||
#[[The Husband's Dream]] | |||
#[[I had a Dream]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Battle of Waterloo]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Battle of Barrosa]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Battle of America]] | |||
#[[The Standard Bearer]] | |||
#[[Up with the standard of England]] | |||
#[[Mother, is the battle o'er?]] | |||
#[[The answer to it]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Wounded Hussar]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Allen's Return from the Wars]] | |||
#[[The Rose of Allendale]] | |||
#[[The Rose of Britain's Isle]] | |||
#[[She wore a Wreath of Roses]] | |||
#[[Ben Bolt]] | |||
#[[Ben Bolt's Reply]] | |||
#[[Tom Bowling]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Tom Hillyard]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Tom Tough]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Will Watch]] | |||
#[[Harry Hawser]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Paul Jones]] | |||
#[[John William Marchant]] | |||
#[[Gibson, Wilson, and Johnson]] | |||
#[[Gilderoy]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Auld Robin Gray]] | |||
#[[Answer to ditto]] | |||
#[[Barney A vouring]] | |||
#[[Joe the Marine]] | |||
#[[John Lawrence]] | |||
#[[Ditto second part]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Larry O' Gaff]] | |||
#[[Beautiful Kitty]] | |||
#[[Kathleen Mavourneen]] | |||
#[[Sarah had a little Lamb]] | |||
#[[Helen Lorraine]] | |||
#[[My Helen is the Fairest Flower]] | |||
#[[Dear Charlotte when the Sun is Set]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Alice Gray]] | |||
#[[Fanny Gray]] | |||
#[[Nelly Gray]] | |||
#[[Mrs. Myrtle]] | |||
#[[Grace Darling]] | |||
#[[Birth of Crazy Jane]] | |||
#[[Crazy Jane]] | |||
#[[Death of Crazy Jane]] | |||
#[[Jeannette and Jeannot]] | |||
#[[The Answer]] | |||
#[[Pretty Phœbe]] | |||
#[[Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare]] | |||
#[[Annie Laurie]] | |||
#[[Bristol Town]] | |||
#[[Gentle Annie]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[I am leaving Thee in sorrow, Annie]] | |||
#[[Lost Rosabel]] | |||
#[[Minnie]] | |||
#[[Little Nell]] | |||
#[[Mary of Argyle]] | |||
#[[Mary Blane]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Mary was a Beauty]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Sally, Sally one Day]] | |||
#[[Poor Uncle Tom]] | |||
#[[Uncle Ned]] | |||
#[[Green Mossy Banks of the Lee]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon]] | |||
#[[Ye Banks of Bonny Winding Tyne]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Banks of the Dee]] | |||
#[[Woodman Spare that Tree]] | |||
#[[Butcher Spare that Lamb]] | |||
#[[My good old Father's Mill]] | |||
#[[My good Old Father's Farm]] | |||
#[[The Old House at Home]] | |||
#[[Home, Sweet Home]] | |||
#[[The Rover]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Banks of Sweet Dundee]] | |||
#[[The Star of Glengarry]] | |||
#[[The Maid of Llangollen]] | |||
#[[We have Lived and Loved Together]] | |||
#[[My Skiff is by the Shore]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Adieu, my Native Land, Adieu]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Old England, what are you Coming to?]] | |||
#[[Britain's Revenge on the Death of Nelson]] | |||
#[[Madam, do you know my Trade is War?]] | |||
#[[How Sweet in the Woodland]] | |||
#[[Oh no, I never mention Her]] | |||
#[[The answer to it]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[In Essex there lived a rich Farmer]] | |||
#[[Oh cease, awhile, ye Winds to blow]] | |||
#[[The Answer to it]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[When I was Young and in my Prime]] | |||
#[[Yarmouth is a Pretty Town]] | |||
#[[It's of a Sailor now I write]] | |||
#[[The Lass of Brighton Town]] | |||
#[[Polly's Love, or the Cruel Ship's Carpenter]] | |||
#[[Rosetta and the Plough Boy]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Old Man and his three Daughters]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Flora, the Unkind Shepherdess]] | |||
#[[Our Captain calls all Hands]] | |||
#[[Isle of Beauty, fare Thee well]] | |||
#[[Wealthy Farmer's Son]] | |||
#[[The Constant Farmer's Son]] | |||
#[[I will be a Gipsy]] | |||
#[[The Gipsy's Tent]] | |||
#[[Fitzgerald's Tent]] | |||
#[[Jervis' Tent]] | |||
#[[The Irish Emigrant]] | |||
#[[The Answer to it]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Lango Lee]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Exile of Erin]] | |||
#[[Leather Breeches]] | |||
#[[Miser Grimes]] | |||
#[[One Night I went to meet Her]] | |||
#[[Old Gray Mare]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Mark and John Peteroe]] | |||
#[[Old Dog Tray]] | |||
#[[Poor Black Bess]] | |||
#[[Bonny Black Bess]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Bonny Moon]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Storm]] | |||
#[[The Minute Gun at Sea]] | |||
#[[The Female Smuggler]] | |||
#[[Highland Mary]] | |||
#[[My Highland Home]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[['Ere around the Huge Oak]] | |||
#[[The Oak Table]] | |||
#[[A Song to the Oak]] | |||
#[[The Effects of Love]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Green Hills of Tyrol]] | |||
#[[Cabbage Green]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Belfast Mountains]] | |||
#[[A Week's Matrimony]] | |||
#[[Umbrella Courtship]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Croppy Boy]] | |||
#[[The Sailor's Return]] | |||
#[[The Lovers' Parting]] | |||
#[[New York Street]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Plato's Advice]] | |||
#[[Dulce Domum]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Through Moorfields]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[On Gosport Beach]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Gallant Poachers]] | |||
#[[The Gallant Sailor]] | |||
#[[Creeping Jane]] | |||
#[[Death and the Lady]] | |||
#[[The Scarlet Flower]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Post Captain]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Cabin Boy]] | |||
#[[Gooseberry Wine]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Travel the Country Round]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Age of Man]] | |||
#[[The Sailor Boy's Good-bye]] | |||
#[[Angel's Whisper]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Spare a Halfpenny]] | |||
#[[Some love to Roam]] | |||
#[[The Blackbird]] | |||
#[[The Woodpecker]] | |||
#[[Our Bessie was a Sailor's Bride]] | |||
#[[As I was Walking one Morning by Chance]] | |||
#[[The Salt Sea]] | |||
#[[The Pitcher]] | |||
#[[The Haymakers]] | |||
#[[The Marble Halls]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Sheffield Apprentice]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The London Apprentice]] | |||
#[[The Fairy Tempter]] | |||
#[[After Roving Many Years]] | |||
#[[All's Well]] | |||
#[[Annie Lisle]] | |||
#[[The Plough Boy]] | |||
#[[Night and Morn]] | |||
#[[O Lovely Night]] | |||
#[[The Little Town Boy]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Robin Hood and the Pedlar]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Past Ten o'clock]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Cobbler]] | |||
#[[The Kiss dear Maid]] | |||
#[[The Irish Girl's Lament]] | |||
#[[The Boyhood Days]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Galley Slave]] | |||
#[[Rosemary Lane]] | |||
#[[In a Cottage near a Wood]] | |||
#[[You Combers All]] | |||
#[[The Young Jockey]] | |||
#[[Little Cupid]] | |||
#[[The last Rose of Summer]] | |||
#[[Four and Nine]] | |||
#[[The Tarry Sailor]] | |||
#[[The Bridal Ring]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Banstead Down]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Pilot]] | |||
#[[The Mariner's Grave]] | |||
#[[I have journeyed over many Lands]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Our Trade and Commerce]] | |||
#[[The Miller's three Sons]] | |||
#[[The Cavalier]] | |||
#[[Salisbury Plain]] | |||
#[[To all you Ladies now on Land]] | |||
#[[Nature's gay Days]] | |||
#[[The Demon of the Seas]] | |||
#[[He is gone to the Roaring Waves]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Wild Rover]] | |||
#[[Vilikins and his Dinah]] | |||
#[[The Troubadour]] | |||
#[[Shells of the Ocean]] | |||
#[[Oh, come to the Ingleside]] | |||
#[[Give me but a Cot in the Valley I love]] | |||
#[[Cherry Cheek Polly for Me]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[When the Morn stands on Tiptoe]] | |||
#[[The Cot where I was born]] | |||
#[[The Orphan Beggar Boy]] | |||
#[[Red, White, and Blue]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Cottager's Daughter]] | |||
#[[Old Folks at Home]] | |||
#[[The Convict's Lamentation]] | |||
#[[Butter, Cheese, and all]] | |||
#[[With all Thy Faults I love Thee still]] | |||
#[[Wait for the Waggon]] | |||
#[[Oh Willie, we have missed you]] | |||
#[[Rouse! Brother, Rouse! ]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Partant Pour la Syrie]] | |||
#[[I'll hang my Harp on a Willow Tree]] | |||
#[[The Heart and Head]] | |||
#[[The Basket of Eggs]] | |||
#[[Will you love Me then as now? ]] | |||
#[[Dearest, then, I'll love Thee now]] | |||
#[[Old Towler]] | |||
#[[When other Lips]] | |||
#[[Pretty Wench]] | |||
#[[No Mistake in that]] | |||
#[[The Beggar Girl]] | |||
#[[My gentle Mother dear]] | |||
#[[Isle of France]] | |||
#[[The Little Bird]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The American Stranger]] | |||
#[[Quite Politely]] | |||
#[[Tally Ho]] | |||
#[[The Light of other Days]] | |||
#[[The Bay of Biscay]] | |||
#[[The Lass O'Gowry]] | |||
#[[Good News from Home]] | |||
#[[Beautiful Star]] | |||
#[[The Queen's Letter]] | |||
#[[Nothing More]] | |||
#[[Tempest of the Heart]] | |||
#[[The Rent Days]] | |||
#[[Abroad as I was Walking]] | |||
#[[Down in those Meadows]] | |||
#[[A Voice from the West]] | |||
#[[To the West]] | |||
#[[Ploughman turned Sailor]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Old Carrion Crow]] | |||
#[[The Sailor's Tear]] | |||
#[[Why did She leave Him]] | |||
#[[Prairie Child]] | |||
#[[Goodbye, Sweetheart]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Peggy Ban]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Duke of Marlborough]] | |||
#[[The Young Recruit]] | |||
#[[The Mistletoe Bough]] | |||
#[[The Song of the Brave]] | |||
#[[All among the Barley]] | |||
#[[The sons of Fingal]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Blue Bells of Scotland]] | |||
#[[The Happy Land]] | |||
#[[The poor Fisherman's Boy]] | |||
#[[So early in the Morning]] | |||
#[[Hard Times come again no more]] | |||
#[[Farewell to the Mountains]] | |||
#[[Thou art gone from my Gaze]] | |||
#[[The Banks of the Blue Moselle]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Months of the Year]] | |||
#[[The Blighted Flower]] | |||
#[[The Officer's Funeral]] | |||
#[[The Sailor's Grave]] | |||
#[[Cheer, Boys, Cheer]] | |||
#[[Ever of Thee]] | |||
#[[Kitty Terrall]] | |||
#[[Popping the Question]] | |||
#[[Aunt Sally]] | |||
#[[Jemima Brown]] | |||
#[[Maid of Judah]] | |||
#[[The Gipsy Girl]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Not a Drum was heard]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[My old friend John]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Benbow]] | |||
#[[Down in the Cornfields]] | |||
#[[Meet Me by Moonlight alone]] | |||
#[[The Cottage by the Sea]] | |||
#[[Your lot is far above Me|You(r) lot is far above Me]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[A Rose Tree in full Bearing]] | |||
#[[The Merry Mountain Horn]] | |||
#[[Fair Lily of the Vale]] | |||
#[[Kathleen O'Moore]] | |||
#[[Where there's a Will there's a Way]] | |||
#[[Oh Bitter and Cold was Night]] | |||
#[[Sweet Spirit, Hear mymy Prayer]] | |||
#[[Oh would I were a Bird]] | |||
#[[The Hazel Dell]] | |||
#[[Happy as a King]] | |||
#[[Father, dear Father, come Home with Me now]] | |||
#[[Beautiful Isle of the Sea]] | |||
#[[Maid of Erin's Isle]] | |||
#[[The Gleaner]] | |||
#[[The Bride's Farewell]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Harry Bluff]] | |||
#[[The Sicilian Maid]] | |||
#[[The Village-born Beauty]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Jenny Jones]] | |||
#[[Fifty years ago]] | |||
#[[Nothing shall she Draw, but Water from the Well]] | |||
#[[The Glasses sparkled on the Board]] | |||
#[[Norah, sweet Norah]] | |||
#[[My Friend and Pitcher]] | |||
#[[The Minstrel Boy]] | |||
#[[The Thorn]] | |||
#[[You Lads and Lasses gay]] | |||
#[[The Ivy Cottage]] | |||
#[[Water Cresses]] | |||
#[[Jimmy and Jenny]] | |||
#[[Banks of Sweet Primroses]] | |||
#[[Canadian Boat Song]] | |||
#[[False One, I love Thee still]] | |||
#[[William and Phyllis]] | |||
#[[The Grecian Bend]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Billy and Sally]] | |||
#[[After tasting many Beers]] | |||
#[[I'll meet Thee at the Lane]] | |||
#[[Wait for the Turn of the Tide]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Heart that can feel for Another]] | |||
#[[The Captain and His Whiskers]] | |||
#[[Just before the Battle, Mother]] | |||
#[[Just after the Battle, Mother]] | |||
#[[I am come across the Seas]] | |||
#[[The Female Sailor]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Goddess Diana]] | |||
#[[Green Bushes]] | |||
#[[Bold Collins]] | |||
#[[Sir Roger Tichbourne]] | |||
#[[O leave not your Kathleen]] | |||
#[[Come back to Erin]] | |||
#[[The Gipsy's Warning]] | |||
#[[The Answer to Ditto]] | |||
#[[The Maiden's Reply]] | |||
#[[The Merry Bells of England]] | |||
#[[Far, Far Away]] | |||
#[[Broker, spare that Bed]] | |||
#[[Kitty Wells]] | |||
#[[Sunshine follows Rain]] | |||
#[[Write Me a Letter from Home]] | |||
#[[Dublin Bay]] | |||
#[[Belle Mahone]] | |||
#[[Molly Darling]] | |||
#[[Annie dear, I am called away]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[In the Downhill of Life]] | |||
#[[When first in this Country a Stranger I came]] | |||
#[[As I was going to Birmingham Fair]] | |||
#[[Nancy Lee]] | |||
#[[Silver Threads Among the Gold]] | |||
#[[The Rat-catcher's Daughter]] | |||
#[[Ring the Bell, Watchman]] | |||
#[[Barrel of Beer]] | |||
#[[Go and leave Me if you wish]] | |||
#[[Put me in my Little Bed]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Auld Lang Syne]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[As I wandered by the Brookside]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Make Little Mary his Bride]] | |||
#[[It was just against the Gate]] | |||
#[[Away with Melancholy]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Black Eyed Susan]] | |||
#[[Good Old Jeff]] | |||
#[[The Negro Boy]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[With my Pot in one Hand]] | |||
#[[Nature's Holiday]] | |||
#[[Won't you buy my pretty Flowers]] | |||
#[[That dear old Stile]] | |||
#[[The Crocodile]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The American has Stole my true Love away]] | |||
#[[Begone Dull Care]] | |||
#[[The Harp that once through Tara's Hall]] | |||
#[[An Old Man came Courting Me]] | |||
#<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[The Holy Friar]] | |||
#[[Bread and Cheese and Kisses]] | |||
#[[There came to Enslave us a Landlord of Erin]] | |||
#[[The Garden Gate]] | |||
#[[Joan and the Miller]] | |||
#[[The Primrose Lass]] | |||
#[[Roger and Flora]] | |||
#[[The Devil He came to an Old Man at the Plough]] | |||
#[[The Brighton Chain Pier]] | |||
#[[The Second part ditto]] | |||
#[[Bonny Bunch of Roses]] | |||
#[[The North Fleet Weighed Anchor]] | |||
#[[The 18th June]] | |||
#[[Duke William]] | |||
#[[We wassailing Lads are Come]] | |||
#[[As I was walking one morning in May]] | |||
#[[Jerry Brown and the Black Jug]] | |||
#[[The Tavern]] | |||
#[[The Donkey]] | |||
#[[John Cladpole's Trip to London]] | |||
#[[Tom Cladpole's Trip to America]] | |||
#[[St. Nicholas' Church]] | |||
#[[Turnips are Round]] | |||
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Titles marked with an asterisk are those Henry learned from his father, of which 'Travel the Country Round' was the first. | |||
== Bibliography == | == Bibliography == |
Latest revision as of 01:13, 29 June 2008
Henry Burstow, 1826-1916, Sussex singer and bellringer. Collected by Lucy Broadwood and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
He was born on 11th December 1826 at 34 The Bishopric, Horsham, West Sussex, the second youngest of nine children. His father William Burstow (born 1781) worked as a clay tobacco-pipe maker, assisted by his wife Ellen (died 1857). The Bishopric, commonly known as “The Rookery”, was the poorest and roughest part of Horsham, and the Burstow home served, in Henry’s own words, as “‘factory’, dwelling house and shop” (Reminiscences p9 [1]). A shoemaker for all of his working life, Burstow’s fame rests principally upon his singing: the size of his repertoire, and his importance to the late nineteenth / early twentieth century English folksong revival. We know more about his life than that of the average nineteenth century artisan through the writings of folksong collector Lucy Broadwood, and his own “Reminiscences of Horsham”, put together and brought into print by Horsham local historian William Albery.
Burstow began to attend the infant school run by a Miss Sayers in the Bishopric “almost as soon as I could toddle” (Reminiscences p22 [2]), with his first year’s fees paid for by a generous Quaker, Mr Pollard. He subsequently attended the Horsham British Schools, the Church School (from 1834) and Collyer’s Free School (1838-1840).
In 1840 he was apprenticed to Jim Vaughan to learn the boot and shoemaking trade. This was an important local industry which employed forty to fifty men, “good hard-workers and sound beer-drinkers to a man” (Reminiscences p23 [3]). For the first year Burstow worked for no pay. In the second he earned two shillings a week, and this rose by one shilling a week at the end of each year that he spent in apprenticeship. After spending around ten years with Vaughan, he went to work for Mr Gilburd, with whom he stayed until 1880, making mainly women’s boots at one shilling and sixpence a pair. Burstow records that on average he earned fifteen shillings a week, for a week’s work of sixty to seventy hours. He never earned more than nineteen shillings and sixpence - and this in a week when he made thirteen pairs of boots, working every available hour.
Henry Burstow married Elizabeth Pratt (1833 - 1909), the daughter of a Horsham gardener, in 1855. On his wedding day Burstow rang peals “all day long” (Remiscences p102 [4]) in company with seven other shoemakers, including the Warnham musician and parish clerk Michael Turner.
Burstow took up bellringing soon after he was apprenticed, at the instigation of John Vaughan, his master’s father, who was Sexton and head bellringer (and who paid his three shilling entrance fee). Bell-ringing became one of his chief pursuits, which he pursued until very late in life. Burstow regretted that when he joined the belfry the Horsham ringers had neither the skill nor the inclination to recreate the change-ringing feats of their late eighteenth century predecessors. However Burstow made the acquaintance of ringers at other parishes - principally Warnham and Newdigate - and was able to develop his own skills. He became well-known locally as a ringer, and in the 1860’s Horsham again became a place where change-ringing records were set.
Burstow rang in 55 Sussex, Surrey and Kent churches, and taught in 15 of these. Both ringing and teaching brought in welcome supplementary income, but they fulfilled primarily a social function. He recalls that at one time he would walk the eight miles to Newdigate every Saturday evening, ring for around three hours, then “adjourn to the ‘Six Bells’ Public House for a jollification, drinking and smoking and song singing in turn” (Reminiscences p99 [5]) - although it is worth noting that Burstow himself neither smoked nor drank. Leaving home after midnight he would then walk back to Horsham, returning home between two and three o’clock.
In an age when singing and music-making were very much a part of everyday life, Burstow was recognised within his community as a singer of note. He kept a list (reprinted in “Reminiscences” [6]) of 420 songs which he knew by heart. Of these he had learned 84 from his father, who himself knew some 200 songs, and some from his mother. Burstow records the names and occupations of other men from whom he learned songs: some were learned from fellow workers or bellringers, some at “Country Wills” in the taprooms of local public houses - the words often exchanged for a pint of beer - while others came from ballad sheets bought at fairs.
In 1892-93 he lent his list of songs to Lucy Broadwood. In common with other collectors of the period she had strong preconceptions as to what was worth preserving, and she selected the 50 or 60 songs from the list which she considered to be “of the traditional ballad type” (English Traditional Songs and Carols p xi). Burstow visited Broadwood’s home at Lyne near Rusper and she collected 46 songs from him in all (in practice Broadwood, or the Horsham organist Herbert Buttifant, noted down the tune, while Burstow would write out the words and send them on to her). Subsequently more of Burstow’s songs were noted by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who lived at Leith Hill Place in Surrey (31 songs collected between 1903 and 1907) and W.H.Gill (a small number in 1911). Many of these were published in books such as Broadwood’s “English Traditional Songs and Carols” and in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society. Singers from Sussex provided a disproportionately large number of items in the early Journals, and of these 118 titles Burstow was the source of 31. It is ironic, however, that the collectors’ romantic vision of illiterate singers living in rural isolation simply did not fit the facts of Burstow’s life.
In 1907 Vaughan Williams phonographed two songs from Burstow. Unfortunately these recordings are now lost, but Lucy Broadwood published a full transcription of one, “Bristol Town” (English Traditional Songs and Carols p114-115), which illustrates the traditional singer’s ability to adapt a song’s tune and phrasing verse by verse.
While Burstow was feted by the pioneers of the folksong revival, he and his wife faced severe financial hardship. In 1907 they were in danger of being sent to the Workhouse: with no children to support them, their sole income came from Parish Relief, a small sum from sub-letting part of their cottage, and gifts from old friends and bellringers (even though Burstow was now too old to ring regularly). A jeweller, Jury Cramp, opened a subscription to provide the Burstows with a lump sum, while saddler William Albery organised a fund from which they could receive a pension of ten shillings a week. Albery had first met Burstow when they were choirboy and head bellringer respectively. Albery’s interest in local history had later led him to befriend the old man, and he now hit upon the idea of a history of Horsham - based upon Burstow’s personal and family memories, but expanded by reference to other sources - as a way of helping him financially. It became apparent that Burstow might not live to see the publication of a major work, so Albery scaled down his plans and arranged for the publication of “Reminiscences” in 1911. Two impressions - of five hundred and four hundred - were printed, and after the deduction of costs all income went to Burstow.
The book’s title is apt: it is neither a formal history of the town nor an autobiography (written throughout in Burstow’s own words, Albery’s name appears nowhere in the work). Its importance is in the picture it presents of small town life through the eyes of a working man. Burstow tells us of the hardships of everyday life, of political events (notably the passing of the 1832 Reform Bill, and the corruption and disorder surrounding elections), and of features of the traditional calendar - May Day, November 5th, and St Crispin Day when Horsham performed its own version of “Rough Music”. The book is also an extremely rare example of a traditional singer’s words and thoughts being preserved in print, providing important details on how songs were transmitted, and the social context of music-making.
Saved from the Workhouse, Burstow seems to have become something of a local celebrity. He was invited to sing in front of a large audience at a silver band concert in the Kings Head Assembly Room in 1908, while articles on Burstow began to appear in local newspapers and national magazines. These focussed on his singing, his bellringing, his prodigious memory and fascination with figures, and even his atheism. A religious and political freethinker, convinced of the truth of Darwinism and not inclined to conceal his beliefs, Burstow encountered some prejudice - indeed some gave his beliefs as a reason for not contributing to the funds set up to relieve his financial distress. However the Horsham clergy generally accepted his candidly-expressed views - “I fetch ‘em in, and I leaves you to drive ‘em away” the enthusiastic bellringer is reported to have told one vicar (quoted in Reminiscences p xv) - and the Unitarian Albery was able to persuade the Free Church Society to sponsor the publication of “Reminiscences”.
Burstow died on 30th January 1916 at his home in Spencer’s Road, Horsham and was buried on 4th February at Hill’s Cemetery; several Sussex newspapers carried fairly substantial obituaries. He had lived all his life in the town - the first 42 years in the Bishopric - spending only six nights away from home. The memorial card circulated to his friends bore an epitaph that he had written himself:
'In ringing and singing I took great delight,
And keeping good company by day and by night;
Many an hour the bell I have tolled,
And now I am dead may the Lord receive my soul.'
Burstow was undoubtedly an exceptional character, and an important figure within his community. However it is largely through good fortune that we know as much as we do about the man - factors such as his literacy, his passion for maintaining lists and records of events in his notebooks, the fact that he came to the attention of two important locally-resident folksong collectors, the interest and commitment of Albery, his longevity.
Henry Burstow's repertoire
- Boney's Farewell to Paris
- *Boney in St. Helena
- *Boney's Lamentation
- Deeds of Napoleon
- Dream of Napoleon
- *The Grand Conversation of Napoleon
- The Soldier's Dream
- The Soldier's Tear
- The tired Soldier
- The poor worn out Soldier
- The Old Soldier's Daughter
- *The Old Deserter
- The New Deserter
- *Stinson, the Deserter
- The Sailor's Dream
- *Mary's Dream
- The Wife's Dream
- The Husband's Dream
- I had a Dream
- *The Battle of Waterloo
- *The Battle of Barrosa
- *The Battle of America
- The Standard Bearer
- Up with the standard of England
- Mother, is the battle o'er?
- The answer to it
- *The Wounded Hussar
- *Allen's Return from the Wars
- The Rose of Allendale
- The Rose of Britain's Isle
- She wore a Wreath of Roses
- Ben Bolt
- Ben Bolt's Reply
- Tom Bowling
- *Tom Hillyard
- *Tom Tough
- *Will Watch
- Harry Hawser
- *Paul Jones
- John William Marchant
- Gibson, Wilson, and Johnson
- Gilderoy
- *Auld Robin Gray
- Answer to ditto
- Barney A vouring
- Joe the Marine
- John Lawrence
- Ditto second part
- *Larry O' Gaff
- Beautiful Kitty
- Kathleen Mavourneen
- Sarah had a little Lamb
- Helen Lorraine
- My Helen is the Fairest Flower
- Dear Charlotte when the Sun is Set
- *Alice Gray
- Fanny Gray
- Nelly Gray
- Mrs. Myrtle
- Grace Darling
- Birth of Crazy Jane
- Crazy Jane
- Death of Crazy Jane
- Jeannette and Jeannot
- The Answer
- Pretty Phœbe
- Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare
- Annie Laurie
- Bristol Town
- Gentle Annie
- *I am leaving Thee in sorrow, Annie
- Lost Rosabel
- Minnie
- Little Nell
- Mary of Argyle
- Mary Blane
- *Mary was a Beauty
- *Sally, Sally one Day
- Poor Uncle Tom
- Uncle Ned
- Green Mossy Banks of the Lee
- *Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon
- Ye Banks of Bonny Winding Tyne
- *Banks of the Dee
- Woodman Spare that Tree
- Butcher Spare that Lamb
- My good old Father's Mill
- My good Old Father's Farm
- The Old House at Home
- Home, Sweet Home
- The Rover
- *Banks of Sweet Dundee
- The Star of Glengarry
- The Maid of Llangollen
- We have Lived and Loved Together
- My Skiff is by the Shore
- *Adieu, my Native Land, Adieu
- *Old England, what are you Coming to?
- Britain's Revenge on the Death of Nelson
- Madam, do you know my Trade is War?
- How Sweet in the Woodland
- Oh no, I never mention Her
- The answer to it
- *In Essex there lived a rich Farmer
- Oh cease, awhile, ye Winds to blow
- The Answer to it
- *When I was Young and in my Prime
- Yarmouth is a Pretty Town
- It's of a Sailor now I write
- The Lass of Brighton Town
- Polly's Love, or the Cruel Ship's Carpenter
- Rosetta and the Plough Boy
- *The Old Man and his three Daughters
- *Flora, the Unkind Shepherdess
- Our Captain calls all Hands
- Isle of Beauty, fare Thee well
- Wealthy Farmer's Son
- The Constant Farmer's Son
- I will be a Gipsy
- The Gipsy's Tent
- Fitzgerald's Tent
- Jervis' Tent
- The Irish Emigrant
- The Answer to it
- *Lango Lee
- *Exile of Erin
- Leather Breeches
- Miser Grimes
- One Night I went to meet Her
- Old Gray Mare
- *Mark and John Peteroe
- Old Dog Tray
- Poor Black Bess
- Bonny Black Bess
- *Bonny Moon
- *The Storm
- The Minute Gun at Sea
- The Female Smuggler
- Highland Mary
- My Highland Home
- *'Ere around the Huge Oak
- The Oak Table
- A Song to the Oak
- The Effects of Love
- *The Green Hills of Tyrol
- Cabbage Green
- *Belfast Mountains
- A Week's Matrimony
- Umbrella Courtship
- *The Croppy Boy
- The Sailor's Return
- The Lovers' Parting
- New York Street
- *Plato's Advice
- Dulce Domum
- *Through Moorfields
- *On Gosport Beach
- *The Gallant Poachers
- The Gallant Sailor
- Creeping Jane
- Death and the Lady
- The Scarlet Flower
- *The Post Captain
- *The Cabin Boy
- Gooseberry Wine
- *Travel the Country Round
- *The Age of Man
- The Sailor Boy's Good-bye
- Angel's Whisper
- *Spare a Halfpenny
- Some love to Roam
- The Blackbird
- The Woodpecker
- Our Bessie was a Sailor's Bride
- As I was Walking one Morning by Chance
- The Salt Sea
- The Pitcher
- The Haymakers
- The Marble Halls
- *The Sheffield Apprentice
- *The London Apprentice
- The Fairy Tempter
- After Roving Many Years
- All's Well
- Annie Lisle
- The Plough Boy
- Night and Morn
- O Lovely Night
- The Little Town Boy
- *Robin Hood and the Pedlar
- *Past Ten o'clock
- *The Cobbler
- The Kiss dear Maid
- The Irish Girl's Lament
- The Boyhood Days
- *The Galley Slave
- Rosemary Lane
- In a Cottage near a Wood
- You Combers All
- The Young Jockey
- Little Cupid
- The last Rose of Summer
- Four and Nine
- The Tarry Sailor
- The Bridal Ring
- *Banstead Down
- *The Pilot
- The Mariner's Grave
- I have journeyed over many Lands
- *Our Trade and Commerce
- The Miller's three Sons
- The Cavalier
- Salisbury Plain
- To all you Ladies now on Land
- Nature's gay Days
- The Demon of the Seas
- He is gone to the Roaring Waves
- *The Wild Rover
- Vilikins and his Dinah
- The Troubadour
- Shells of the Ocean
- Oh, come to the Ingleside
- Give me but a Cot in the Valley I love
- Cherry Cheek Polly for Me
- *When the Morn stands on Tiptoe
- The Cot where I was born
- The Orphan Beggar Boy
- Red, White, and Blue
- *The Cottager's Daughter
- Old Folks at Home
- The Convict's Lamentation
- Butter, Cheese, and all
- With all Thy Faults I love Thee still
- Wait for the Waggon
- Oh Willie, we have missed you
- Rouse! Brother, Rouse!
- *Partant Pour la Syrie
- I'll hang my Harp on a Willow Tree
- The Heart and Head
- The Basket of Eggs
- Will you love Me then as now?
- Dearest, then, I'll love Thee now
- Old Towler
- When other Lips
- Pretty Wench
- No Mistake in that
- The Beggar Girl
- My gentle Mother dear
- Isle of France
- The Little Bird
- *The American Stranger
- Quite Politely
- Tally Ho
- The Light of other Days
- The Bay of Biscay
- The Lass O'Gowry
- Good News from Home
- Beautiful Star
- The Queen's Letter
- Nothing More
- Tempest of the Heart
- The Rent Days
- Abroad as I was Walking
- Down in those Meadows
- A Voice from the West
- To the West
- Ploughman turned Sailor
- *Old Carrion Crow
- The Sailor's Tear
- Why did She leave Him
- Prairie Child
- Goodbye, Sweetheart
- *Peggy Ban
- *Duke of Marlborough
- The Young Recruit
- The Mistletoe Bough
- The Song of the Brave
- All among the Barley
- The sons of Fingal
- *The Blue Bells of Scotland
- The Happy Land
- The poor Fisherman's Boy
- So early in the Morning
- Hard Times come again no more
- Farewell to the Mountains
- Thou art gone from my Gaze
- The Banks of the Blue Moselle
- *The Months of the Year
- The Blighted Flower
- The Officer's Funeral
- The Sailor's Grave
- Cheer, Boys, Cheer
- Ever of Thee
- Kitty Terrall
- Popping the Question
- Aunt Sally
- Jemima Brown
- Maid of Judah
- The Gipsy Girl
- *Not a Drum was heard
- *My old friend John
- *Benbow
- Down in the Cornfields
- Meet Me by Moonlight alone
- The Cottage by the Sea
- You(r) lot is far above Me
- *A Rose Tree in full Bearing
- The Merry Mountain Horn
- Fair Lily of the Vale
- Kathleen O'Moore
- Where there's a Will there's a Way
- Oh Bitter and Cold was Night
- Sweet Spirit, Hear mymy Prayer
- Oh would I were a Bird
- The Hazel Dell
- Happy as a King
- Father, dear Father, come Home with Me now
- Beautiful Isle of the Sea
- Maid of Erin's Isle
- The Gleaner
- The Bride's Farewell
- *Harry Bluff
- The Sicilian Maid
- The Village-born Beauty
- *Jenny Jones
- Fifty years ago
- Nothing shall she Draw, but Water from the Well
- The Glasses sparkled on the Board
- Norah, sweet Norah
- My Friend and Pitcher
- The Minstrel Boy
- The Thorn
- You Lads and Lasses gay
- The Ivy Cottage
- Water Cresses
- Jimmy and Jenny
- Banks of Sweet Primroses
- Canadian Boat Song
- False One, I love Thee still
- William and Phyllis
- The Grecian Bend
- *Billy and Sally
- After tasting many Beers
- I'll meet Thee at the Lane
- Wait for the Turn of the Tide
- *The Heart that can feel for Another
- The Captain and His Whiskers
- Just before the Battle, Mother
- Just after the Battle, Mother
- I am come across the Seas
- The Female Sailor
- *Goddess Diana
- Green Bushes
- Bold Collins
- Sir Roger Tichbourne
- O leave not your Kathleen
- Come back to Erin
- The Gipsy's Warning
- The Answer to Ditto
- The Maiden's Reply
- The Merry Bells of England
- Far, Far Away
- Broker, spare that Bed
- Kitty Wells
- Sunshine follows Rain
- Write Me a Letter from Home
- Dublin Bay
- Belle Mahone
- Molly Darling
- Annie dear, I am called away
- *In the Downhill of Life
- When first in this Country a Stranger I came
- As I was going to Birmingham Fair
- Nancy Lee
- Silver Threads Among the Gold
- The Rat-catcher's Daughter
- Ring the Bell, Watchman
- Barrel of Beer
- Go and leave Me if you wish
- Put me in my Little Bed
- *Auld Lang Syne
- *As I wandered by the Brookside
- *Make Little Mary his Bride
- It was just against the Gate
- Away with Melancholy
- *Black Eyed Susan
- Good Old Jeff
- The Negro Boy
- *With my Pot in one Hand
- Nature's Holiday
- Won't you buy my pretty Flowers
- That dear old Stile
- The Crocodile
- *The American has Stole my true Love away
- Begone Dull Care
- The Harp that once through Tara's Hall
- An Old Man came Courting Me
- *The Holy Friar
- Bread and Cheese and Kisses
- There came to Enslave us a Landlord of Erin
- The Garden Gate
- Joan and the Miller
- The Primrose Lass
- Roger and Flora
- The Devil He came to an Old Man at the Plough
- The Brighton Chain Pier
- The Second part ditto
- Bonny Bunch of Roses
- The North Fleet Weighed Anchor
- The 18th June
- Duke William
- We wassailing Lads are Come
- As I was walking one morning in May
- Jerry Brown and the Black Jug
- The Tavern
- The Donkey
- John Cladpole's Trip to London
- Tom Cladpole's Trip to America
- St. Nicholas' Church
- Turnips are Round
* Titles marked with an asterisk are those Henry learned from his father, of which 'Travel the Country Round' was the first.
Bibliography
Henry Burstow. Reminiscences of Horsham, ed. A. E. Green and T. Wales (1975)
Henry Burstow. Reminiscences of Horsham: being Recollections of Henry Burstow The Celebrated Bellringer & Songsinger (1911) [7]
Andrew R. Turner, ‘Burstow, Henry (1826–1916)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [8]