The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #4518 Message #4213516
Posted By: Sandra in Sydney
14-Dec-24 - 06:12 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Do ye ken John Peel?
Subject: RE: Origins: Do ye ken John Peel?
the grave of the author of "D'ye Ken John Peel" was recently exhumed by archaeologists in Tasmania, Australia -
... John Woodcock Graves was the author of a famous English hunting song "D'ye Ken John Peel", before he came out to Tasmania in 1833.
Described as a Tasmanian celebrity, he set up business in Hobart as a coach builder and painter but according to an ABC recording from 1951, his business "didn't do much good".
"He was erratic and unpractical and eventually his wife left him."
He was placed in an asylum, "from which he escaped by climbing over a wall".
He died in 1886 and was buried at Queenborough Cemetery, although his headstone became neglected and there was talk about moving his remains elsewhere ...
Bob Bolton referred to him in 2 posts on page 1 - 05 April 1998, 10.430m (When I first roamed from my home in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, down south to the cool climes of Hobart: Tasmania, Australia, I noticed that the iron railing fence around St David's Park was formed in five horizontal lines, like music staves. Into the stave was worked a design of musical notes forming the opening bars of "D'ye Ken John Peel". I was told that this was because the park had been the graveyard of St David's, the Anglican cathedral church of Hobart and was the burial place of the author of the song "D'ye Ken John Peel"(presumably, John Woodcock Graves).
& 06 April, 1998 8.33pm (when I first saw the fence with the "D'ye Ken John Peel" music it was around 1966)