The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167361   Message #4035942
Posted By: cnd
24-Feb-20 - 05:58 PM
Thread Name: Origins: evidence tommy armstong in music halls
Subject: RE: Origins: evidence tommy armstong in music halls
I looked through online copies of the local newspapers but didn't turn up a ton of useful information.

From Music and social class in Victorian London, I found this:

"These urban ballads, however, were not for a community market; because of London's size and the desire to sell widely there was no personalizing of events as in, for example, the songs written by Tommy Armstrong for his Durham coal-mining community. When Armstrong sang `The Trimdon Grange Explosion' in the local Mechanics' Hall in 1882, he could refer to Mrs Burnett and her dead sons Joseph, George and James, as characters his listeners actually knew"


I also found this, from The Voice of the People: The Social Meaning and Context of Country Song. It doesn't directly answer the question but strongly implies that generally it was not performed in music halls.

"The singing of songs to express feelings or beliefs shades out at one end into entertainment and at the other into ritual. Central to this group however, is a class of song, usually sung by individuals, rather than massed groups, which may be called 'songs of complaint' and which are found in both industrial and rural areas. These songs were usually sung in a context of 'entertainment', that is in the home or pubs, at the workplace etc., but their content, which is explicitly political or social, marks them as songs which, by and large, would be sung to express definite feelings. To this group belong the mining songs, or many of them, which the second folk revival has made familiar. Many of these, especially those written by the Durham pitman Tommy Armstrong, were sung in the streets and sold as broadsides to raise money after a disaster or during a strike."

Not exactly musical in nature but there was a Tommy Armstrong who was known to perform with the Royal Earsdon Sword Dancers (link). Not sure if it's the same one or not but it's a performance.



One comment to make: you have been making a few different threads about Mr. Armstrong. Have you considered consulting local libraries or other online resources? newspapers.com is a great resource if you know what you're looking for - it wasn't extremely useful for me just because I know very little about the man, but if you make an account there you have access to thousands of period texts. Some local libraries give you access to that website. A second good place to look is jstor.