George Gardiner

George Barnet Gardiner, Scottish folk-song collector, c.1852-1910.

With a collection of over 1,400 songs, Gardiner should be ranked alongside the major collectors, but his collection fell into obscurity after his death in 1910. He was 'rediscovered' by James Reeves and Frank Purslow in the 1950s. Frank Purslow did a gargantuan job collating the collection and publishing about 150 of his songs in the excellent 'Marrowbones' series of songbooks 1965-1973. The books, however, were a mixture of Gardiner's and Henry Hammond's material, and Gardiner still did not quite receive the prominence he deserved. The present centenary of his collecting is doing much to further restore his reputation.

George Gardiner was born in Kincardine-on-Forth, Perthshire, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh, he then taught at the Edinburgh Academy from 1884 until 1896. H.E.D. Hammond joined the staff of the Academy in 1890, and the two men became friends. Gardiner retired from the Academy to translate and publish textbooks. He travelled widely on the continent during this period, and in 1903 he made an extensive study of the folk song of Europe. In 1904 he began collecting English folk songs, at first with Henry Hammond in Hammond's native Somerset. Hammond then concentrated on Dorset and Gardiner concentrated on the county of Hampshire, continuing until his death in January 1910.

COLLECTING IN HAMPSHIRE.

Hampshire has the rural villages and market towns found in all counties, but it also has the industrial and maritime towns of Portsmouth and Southampton. It also has a strong military and naval presence. Gardiner was thus able to collect from singers who had a wide range of occupaton by concentrating on this county.

see VWML Online