William Hedges info? C Sharp song source

Subject: William Hedges info? C Sharp song source
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Aug 05 - 09:44 AM

A friend asked me what I knew about William Hedges of Chipping Campden, who gave Cecil Sharp four or more songs.

What can people tell me.

The ladies half brother is doing genealogy, she is a folkie.

Hopefully the genalogist will be looking-in in due course.

Subject: RE: William Hedges info? C Sharp song source
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 06 Aug 05 - 06:07 PM

Sharp got the following (Roud Index listing) from William Hedges. Some may only have been fragments.

The Three Butchers
The Outlandish Knight
The Golden Vanity
Jemmy and Nancy of Yarmouth
Oxford City
Rosemary Lane
Shepherds are the Best of Men
The Bold Fisherman
I Kept a Pack of Hounds (The Broken Hearted Gentleman)
Forty Long Miles
I Followed Her (Going to Chelsea to Buy a Bun)
George Ridler's Oven
The Crafty Maid's Policy
Three Pretty Maids
Taffy
Horses to Grass

Sharp visited him on four occasions in 1909: 10, 14 and 28 August, and 10 September, describing him as "aged 76". That's all I know, though the 1901 census has a William Hedges, retired shepherd aged 69, living at Chipping Campden, who is presumably the same person (age discrepancies are nothing unusual). The 1881 census has details too (including family) but gives a different place of birth; may still be the same person, though. Errors were not uncommon. Presumably your friend already knows about those references. He might contact the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, where there may be relevant material; sometimes there are additional details in Sharp's notebooks, and he sometimes took photographs of the singers. Other people have done work on them too.