Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)

Subject: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 06:30 PM

Looking for poem of this title by Edmund Hill, author of "A Mon Like Thee." Lyrics would be much appreciated.
Printed in "Poems," 1913, Edmund Hill.

(Used copies available, but at collector's prices; too much for me).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 06:40 PM

I was thinking of Wee Dark Engine Room by Harry Robertson, but no cigar. Back to the drawing board.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Peace
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 06:46 PM

Have you looked under Edmund L Hill?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Amergin
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 06:52 PM

I have heard a song called this years ago....it was done to a rock tune....a shipmate had it on cassette...and it was the only song we listened to on the album....as it was the only good one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 07:10 PM

I am looking for the original poem, from the book cited. Seemingly it was never reprinted, but I hoped some of our UK posters would have access to it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Peace
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 07:14 PM

Can't find it, Q. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Aug 09 - 05:18 PM

I've tried the Oldpoetry website (oldpoetry.com) to no avail. I've also tried unsuccessfully searching for Edmund Hill as an author on the Bookfinder website.

Any other clues?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: seaJane
Date: 08 Aug 09 - 05:30 PM

There's a copy in the Bodleian Library bookstack in Oxford. If I can't get there from Somerset any time soon I'll ask a friend to call the book up and copy out the poem. You have a deadline for the requirement?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Aug 09 - 05:45 PM

seaJane, many thanks!
I found copies for sale at abebooks.com, but too expensive for me.
If not too much trouble, also look at "A Mon Like Thee," which I believe was published in the same volume. I am not sure that the lyrics posted here in a thread of that name are accurate.
This is a volume that should be picked up by Gutenberg or other ebook printer.

No hurry, no deadline. And thanks again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: seaJane
Date: 08 Aug 09 - 05:48 PM

Okay: give me a nudge if you hear nothing, but I'm out the country most of September.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Aug 09 - 10:54 PM

Yah, let's nail this one. I'd really like to post some of the poems onto Oldpoetry where I'm a moderator.

If you can borrow the book through inter-library loan and photocopy and/or scan it (300 ppi), we'd have a whole set of interesting poems in the bag.

PM me for further advice.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Aug 09 - 01:09 PM

Good idea, Charley. Willing to pay copy costs.

But belay for the nonce; I have ordered a copy from a source that promises the sale price to Oxfam. Let you know if my purchase is confirmed.

Copying would be a large favor, seaJane, but would be greatly appreciated, if my purchase falls through.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Aug 09 - 04:41 PM

Purchase confirmed. Should have the book in a week or two.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: seaJane
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 06:46 PM

Oh well done - great - I'll scratch it off the list, but let me know if there's ever anything I can dig out of the Bod.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 07:17 PM

seajane, Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 08:10 PM

Q-

It's nice just to sit back and wait while you do all the work!

I do hope there is some more gold in what you harvest.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Aug 09 - 02:57 AM

OK, so there was mention of a pop version of this song. Anybody have the lyrics?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 09 - 11:52 AM

A website, probably unreliable, says that "Wee Dark Engine Room," linked by Joe, above, is by Eric Bogle, but he probably just sang it.
Also states that it was recorded by Ed trickett on "The Ways of Man," FSI-68 copyright 1978.

Wee dark engine room

A good song. Should be posted here with proper citation.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 09 - 12:13 PM

More digression, but Mike Watt has composed a 'punk opera' called "Contemplating the Engine Room."
The action takes place in the engine room of a ship. Songs include:

In the Engine Room
Red Bluff
The Bluejackets' Manual
Pedro Bound
The Boilerman
Black Gang Coffee
Topsiders
No One Says Old Man
Fireman Hurley
Liberty Calls
In the Bunkroom/Navy Wife
Breaking the Choke Hold
Crossing the Equator
Wrapped Around the Screw
Shore Duty

Complete lyrics at Contemplating Engine Room

Has anyone heard it?

Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN IN THE ENGINE ROOM (Edmund Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:47 PM

DOWN IN THE ENGINE ROOM
Poem by Edmund Hill

S. S. "Titanic" April 14, 1912

1
There did they work and tried
Each one his work to do,
Each did his work and died,
Each of them died for you;
You who were saved and live-
Woe that the saved were few-
You who are dead forgive,
For they died- the thirty-two.
2
Thirty-two of them died,
Thirty-two was their roll;
Not a man of them tried-
Asking life as a dole-
Duty to shirk- in his place
Each of them stood and knew
He'd only death to face;
They faced it- the thirty-two.
3
Hail and Farewell, Brave Dead!
Yours is an endless fame,
Ages hence will be read
How well you earned the name;
Down in the engine room,
Each to his duty true,
Looked- saw- and faced his doom.
And died there- the thirty-two.

Thirty-two seamen worked in the engine room of the S. S. Titanic, all died.
Edmund Hill, c1913, "Poems," p. 53-54. The Electrician Printing & Publishing Co., London. N. D.

Edmund Hill was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and A. M. I. E. E.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:52 PM

A. M. I. E. E.
I. E. E. is the British Institution of Electrical Engineers; A. M. means associate member.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Amos
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 01:55 PM

Man, that brings a shiver, does it not?


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 10:39 PM

Q-

Wow!

Now I have a full ten-song set that will sink the audience through the floor.

I'll have to try this one out with a doleful tune or two.

And, I suppose, there are other poems of interest?

Do we know anything else about edmund Hill?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 11:53 PM

Charlie, a couple more that might be of interest to you, I'll post them in a day or two.
Many are quite long, the verse form hard to visualize with music, and some clunkers like "Gladstone, May 18, 1898." First two lines:
Gladstone is dead. The warrior soul at last
Has found escape from suffering bravely borne. .....

"Dargai," about storming the crest at Dargai by the Gordon Highlanders, and the wounded piper who led them to the top, "To an Old Oak Cradle," and "The Locomotive's Complaint," may be of some interest, perhaps others. The volume is dedicated to his dog, Nell; his "To Nell" is worth repetition.

I can't find any details of Hill's life except his professional employment as a mechanical and electrical engineer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 07:42 AM

Q-

You have to love these "time capsules."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: seaJane
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 12:04 PM

Something about the writer?

I suddenly thought to check the 1901 Census records and they show an Edmund Rouleg Hill, aged 28, electrical engineer.

I suspect he is our poet: if so, he would have been born about 1873, and aged 39 or so when the Titanic went down. Unfortunately I can't download the record and have a closer look at it.

The 1901 census middle name is a mis-transcription: a further check via FamilySearch.org gives Edmund Rowley Hill, son of Rowley Hill (1836-1887), born on the Isle of Man 19 Feb 1873, died 1 Oct 1947.

The 1881 census has the correct middle name and shows the family in London.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 02:46 PM

Maybe so!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Dec 09 - 08:13 PM

The poet's name was Edmund L. Hill, not 'R'.
His little book is titled "Poems," by Edmund L. Hill, M. I. Mech.E., A. M. I. E. E.; author of "Alfred the Great."

I should have included his middle initial in my previous post. The book contains no biographical information.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: seaJane
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 07:05 AM

I remember that the book said L. On the other hand, two electrical engineers called Edmund Hill at the same time seems unlikely (admittedly not impossible), whereas typographical errors, even on a title page, are not uncommon.

The one Edmund L Hill in the 1901 census is a painter from Cornwall.

The 1911 census has an Edmund Lewin Hill aged 40 in Wales, but infuriatingly gives no occupation; and shows Edmund Rowley Hill living in Henley.

I must find out who is archivist at the I.E.T. (formerly I.E.E.) and see if he/she can clarify things for me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Dec 09 - 03:48 PM

Looked up "Alfred the Great," Edmund Hill, and found two entries in Abebooks. Both have the middle initial as 'L'.
A the G, 1901, Edmund L. Hill, Unwin, London.

The title page of "Poems" lists him as author of this book.

From this, I assume 'L' is correct.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: GUEST,Lauren Hill
Date: 14 Jul 10 - 08:51 AM

Hi,

I can confirm that Edmund Hill lived originally in Kent, and worked as a miner. He moved to St.Helens a century ago where he started to write poems including the local dialect, several of which local groups put to music in the 1960s/1970s.

If you need any more information on the poet, though my knowledge is limited, feel free to email me on: [e-mail]

As you may guess from my surname, I am a relative of the poet, but would rather not give too much information on the public domain. I am able to discuss the family tree, life, hobbies, living relatives etc, but would prefer this information to only be shown to those who actually want the information rather than everyone on the internet.

Look forward to hearing from you,
L.H

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down in the Engine Room (Edmund Hill)
From: bubblyrat
Date: 14 Jul 10 - 09:26 AM

I think that the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic had THREE engine-rooms, which would have been staffed by Stokers and Stoker-Mechanics, or whatever their titles were in the Mercantile Marine of the period; but not Seamen .