A description of the Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection and the work that has been done to make more of it accessible to singers and others interested in looking at the songs it contains





The Manuscript Collection

 

 Sabine Baring-Gould's intention in collecting the folk songs of Devon and Cornwall was not to pin them, like butterflies, into the museum case of a printed text. His desire was to hear them sung and enjoyed by as many people as possible, particularly by children who would keep tradition alive. The articles he wrote and the books he published were done with this in mind. Early on in his collecting days he also started to arrange performances of his songs, initially in concerts but, increasingly, as staged performances with costumes and a plot that joined the songs together. In doing this he knew that the songs could not be performed exactly as he had collected them. Victorian audiences were not attuned to unaccompanied singing. If he was to be successful in popularising the songs they had to be matched to the tastes of the listeners. This meant that piano accompaniments were obligatory. He also had to tone down some of the more 'unsuitable' songs.

"Of course, it is only some, and they are not very numerous among the popular lyrics, that are objectionable, and the singers have no thought that they are offending ears polite, when they mention in their songs and ballads matters not generally talked about, and when they call a spade "a spade" and not "an agricultural implement employed by gardeners."

Less forgivably, Baring-Gould sometimes edited on the grounds of personal taste and his feeling of what the singer might have sung if they hadn't omitted a verse.

Baring-Gould's gift to posterity is that he had the foresight to make fair copies of the songs he collected and to ensure that one of these copies was given to Plymouth Library, together with the rough notes of tunes taken down in the field by his collaborators Bussell and Sheppard. These were the only manuscripts that researchers had to work with up until 1992 when we discovered that Baring-Gould's personal fair copy had also survived with his books and other papers in Killerton House near Exeter where his Library had been moved in the 1970s. This started a period of exploration with the help and encouragement of Baring-Gould's great-granddaughter, Merriol Almond and with the assistance of a number of other enthusiasts. The manuscripts and other material now known about include the following

 

Plymouth Library

The Rough Manuscripts are the original notebooks in which Baring-Gould, Sheppard and Bussell noted tunes from the old singers. There were originally 15 notebooks but 1 was mislaid before they were presented to Plymouth Library in 1914. Volume 12 has gone missing in more recent years. The Rough Manuscripts are due to be re-bound at the time of writing

The Fair Copy is a collection of 202 songs with their tunes, set out with all their variants of word and tunes. They include the songs published in both editions of "Songs of the West". A photocopy of this manuscript is also available in the West Country Studies Library in Exeter.

There are also two Notebooks in the Plymouth collection. One is a fair copy of verses composed by Baring-Gould, including pieces commissioned by newspapers etc. The other is one of the notebooks used by Baring-Gould for noting down songs in the field.

 

Killerton House

When Baring-Gould's personal library (at least, a large part of it) was removed, for safety, from Lewtrenchard in the 1970s it was agreed that it should be placed in the Library at Killerton House the former seat of the Acland family near Exeter, now owned by the National Trust. The collection includes a large number of Baring-Gould's own books as well as those he used for reference in his writing. There is a good collection of books on folk song and these include specially bound editions of his song books with extra pages which he has used for annotations, presumably with the next edition in mind. There are also a number of bound collections of chap-books and ballads. It is here that the manuscript now known as the Personal Copy is kept. This is a set of three vellum-bound ledgers laid out like the Fair Copy (for which it was the prototype) only it contains about 650 songs, some of which are repeated. It appears that Baring-Gould continued to copy songs into these volumes from his notes and from other sources until about 1917.

 

Devon Record Office

In addition to the books and manuscripts in the library at Killerton it was discovered that there were 30 boxes of other material stored in the basement. This material has now been transferred to the Devon Record Office in Exeter. The boxes contain letters, newspaper cuttings, family journals and scrapbooks, photographs and other manuscripts as well as a number of damaged books and other items of less interest. In respect of folk song the most interesting finds to date have been two more notebooks which both appear to have been early attempts at fair copies and which were later used for rough notes.

 

Other Manuscripts

Other locations have manuscripts which are of interest, including:

  • The Houghton Library at Harvard University (USA) has a collection of letters and songs sent by Baring-Gould to Francis Child
  • The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, London has letters sent by Baring-Gould to Cecil Sharp and to Lucy Broadwood
  • The library of the University of Wales, Bangor has a collection of Ballads that was once the property of Baring-Gould
  • The greater part of Baring-Gould's Ballad collection is in the British Library
  • Devon Library Services also have some music notebooks that belonged to the Baring-Gould family bought at auction. These include songs and nursery rhymes as well as church music that may have been noted by Sabine Baring-Gould. One of these notebooks contains folk song tunes noted in the field.

 While these are the manuscripts that are known about and are available (though with some restrictions) to researchers there is some other material which is in private hands, including the Baring-Gould family. I am sure that there are other papers which will come to light as the search goes on.


The Sabine Baring-Gould Heritage Project

 Until 1992 it was believed that the record of Sabine Baring-Gould's folk song collection was the 202 songs contained in the manuscripts that he had given to Plymouth Library. Then came the discovery of previously unrecognised manuscripts among Baring-Gould's books and papers lodged at Killerton House, near Exeter. Research into these papers was undertaken by Martin Graebe and a number of further discoveries made. The number of songs recorded in these manuscripts is more than three times the number in the Plymouth manuscripts.

The need to make this material available for study was recognised and, in 1995, a project team was formed with the objective of raising funds to photograph and then publish on microfiches the complete manuscript collection of Baring-Gould's song collection from the manuscripts at Plymouth, Killerton and Harvard. It was also decided to include a large quantity of ballads and other popular literature from Baring-Gould's library. Sets of these microfiches have been placed in the main public Libraries in Devon, at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and in the Lamont Library of Harvard University (USA). The microfiche edition is also available for purchase through Wren Music ( http://www.wrenmusic.co.uk )

The team included Merriol Almond, Baring-Gould's great grand-daughter and owner, on behalf of the family, of the manuscripts, Paul Wilson and Marilyn Tucker of Wren Music, the Devon-based community arts organisation who undertook project management and fund-raising and Ian Maxted of Devon Libraries. Martin Graebe acted as project director and lead researcher.

An event was held at Lewtrenchard Manor on 8th November 1998 to officially launch the microfiche edition. 120 people enjoyed an afternoon of songs from the collection sung by Cyril Tawney, Tim Laycock, Chris Bartram, Paul Wilson, Marilyn Tucker, Martin Graebe and others. David Bellamy, the TV botanist, flew in specially to spend time talking about his admiration for Baring-Gould. An informal service in Baring-Gould's church and a crowded pub sing rounded off a very special day. 

Now that the microfiche sets are available at the designated libraries they are being studied by a number of folk-song scholars and local historians, for use in education - particularly local projects in schools and, of course, by singers who wish to find new material for their repertoire. In this way a much larger proportion of Baring-Gould's collection has been given back to the descendants of the people from whom it was collected, to the people of the British Isles whose heritage it is a part of and to anyone in the world who is interested in folk song.


Wren Music

Wren Music is a community arts organisation based in West Devon which has played a key role in the Baring-Gould Heritage Project and in encouraging the use of the songs in the community, particularly in West Devon. Two key events organised by Wren are The Baring-Gould Song School and the Baring-Gould Folk Festival which are held at the end of October each year. More details can be found on the Wren Music website  ( http://www.wrenmusic.co.uk )