From Bearman's Thesis - THE ENGLISH FOLK MUSIC MOVEMENT 1898 — 1914A Thesis Submitted to the University of Hull


"Thomson seemed to be aware of the lack of evidence for his assumptions, since he fell back on an argument which might be thought both ludicrous and presumptuous. He drew on his own experience with a modem singer (Harry Cox, 1885-1971), and argued that because Cox had a collection of printed material, such collections must have been widespread but were never divulged to the collectors of the first revival. He then argued that the singers suppressed their knowledge of printed material because the collectors 'privileged' the tunes and praised the singers' retentive memories."

Is this what you meant above..??

Tim Radford