"Were there such people as 'Artisan Song-makers'"
Yes there were - Axon and Bamford were two who were published - Manchester Central Library had microfiche of dozens of Chartist and Reform newspapers which included songs of the period sent in by readers.
I would estimate that for every song that was published on the Easter Uprising and the Irish war of Independence, there were at least a few dozen that remained in the area in the memories of local people.
We've calculated a repertoire of at least a hundred unpublished anonymous songs from this one-street town and the surrounding area which have never seen the light of day outside of Miltown Malbay.
We recorded some stunning stuff about the Land Wars at the end of the 19th century - can't find a trace of it in print.
East Clare was particularly active in the Land Distribution protests in the early 1900s and many of the events were put into song by an itinerant Blacksmith named Martin Kennedy and others like him at the time.
It's probably long out of print, but if you should stumble across a copy of a collection called 'Ballads of Co. Clare' 1850-1976 by Seán P Ó Cillín (Killeen), grab it - around a hundred and fifty locally-made songs with their backgrounds - a gem!
I believe it to be the tip of an enormous and possibly largely lost iceberg of folk creations.
It seems to me more than a little insulting to suggest that if Ireland and Scotland could produce such repertoires as they did, the English were "too busy earning a living" and had to rely on the broadside industry to record their experiences for them.
It is crazy to suggest that working people never made songs about their lives - they most certainly did, in their thousands.
Sorry Steve - I really don't mean to denigrate the valuable job you are doing, but I think you haven't read all the entrails.
Jim Carroll