Bill Ellson
Bill Ellson: was ... settled. Born in 1916 in south London, his maternal grandfather was a Penfold. Bill’s parents were general dealers who worked with horse-drawn vehicles. They moved to St Paul’s Cray, Kent, in the 1930s. For most of his life Bill worked with horses and often travelled to Appleby Fair in Yorkshire. For a short period of time he trained trotting horses in Canada, but later returned to Kent, where he bought a farm near Edenbridge. He learnt to play the mouthorgan in Battersea and as a boy would busk in the streets to earn a few coppers.
Part of the booklet notes, written by Mike Yates, to the Musical Traditions Records CD Here's Luck to a Man ... (MTCD320)
Discography
Various - Songs Of The Open Road, Gypsies, Travellers & Country Singers (LP) Topic Records 12T253 1975
Various - Here's Luck to a Man (CD) Musical Traditions Records MTCD320 2006
Various - My Father's The King Of The Gypsies. Music Of English & Welsh Travellers & Gypsies. (CD, Album, Comp) Topic Records TSCD661 1998
Various - Three Score & Ten: A Voice To The People (7xCD, Comp) Topic Records TOPIC70 2009
Various - Go On Groovers Vol.1 Go On Records GOON020 2020
Various - Wait Till The Clouds Roll By (3xCD, Comp) Musical Traditions Records MTCD518-0 2020
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