"Shirley and The Albions and Ashley would have to do a solo piece.."
Ruth, I can only echo your sigh ,as luck would clearly not enter into it all ... a total non-starter if ever there was one!!!! just shows how little LC knows about more recent folk history as well ?

Leveller - methinks you either jest or are deliberately trying to stir things up!!
"There's little doubt that the Edwardian folk song collectors were from the middle classes and were seeking to protect the songs from the 'mis-use' by the very people they were collecting from"
There's every doubt in the world about that ... they were actually seeking to preserve the songs from extinction, as in their perception the singers who were the guardians and repositories of the items in question were ageing and dying out. Some of them also had the idea that these tunes could be used to form the basis of "English music" ... Sharp being one of those ... but to actually "protect" the songs from those who were singing them ... a bit far fetched, methinks!

As to the quotes from Sharp, I think you'll find that he changed his mind more than once on his definitions of what folksong and "the folk" were ... depending on his current theory of the moment.