ADD: The Mary Stanford of Rye (Allen Maslen)

Subject: Chord Req: Mary Stanford of Rye (Maslen)
From: Edain
Date: 07 Sep 04 - 08:22 AM

Heard the song a long time ago and then again on a Pint and Dale CD picked up at Fylde Festival last weekend and was wondering if anyone had the chords for it.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Mary Stanford of Rye (Maslen)
From: Fran
Date: 08 Sep 04 - 02:07 AM

You might have more luck here
www.motl.co.uk


Go to the links on the side of the pade and click on songbook, also you can read more about the song.

Fran

Subject: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 07:57 PM

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: Peace
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 09:02 PM

The Mary Stanford of Rye
The Mary Stanford of Rye. The story behind the song, by Allen Maslen. The
one song we get asked about more than any other is The ...
www.motl.co.uk/rnli.html

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST,Skipy
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 11:58 AM

I,ve been playing it all day!
It is brilliant!
I have the Pint & Dale version, I'll be putting more than usual into a "Life boat box" from here on.
Regards Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: Fran
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 02:11 PM

Went to see Meet on the Ledge in Straford Upon Avon on Saturday, they were fantastic.

They are one of my favourite bands and The Mary Stanford of Rye is my favourite song and especially performed live prefaced by a spoken list of all the names of the crew members.

Meet on the Ledge

and also there are some great photos from Saturday here
folkfoto

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 02:24 PM

"These men of Rye Harbour, crew of the lifeboat Mary Stanford, having confirmed by the habit of a noble service the courage handed down to them by their fathers were quick to hear the cry of humanity above the roaring of the sea.

In the darkness of their supreme hour they stayed not to weight doubt or danger, but freely offering their portion in this life for the ransom of men whom they had never known they went boldly into the last of all their storms.

Their names are here recorded in acknowledgement that we have received in trust for England the memory of their faithfulness and loving kindness.
Herbert Head
Joseph Stonham
Henry Cutting
Albert Cutting
Watlter Igglesden
Charles Southerden
James Head
John Head
charles Pope
Alex Pope
Robert Pope
Robert Cutting
Morris Downey
Arthur Downey
leslie Clark
William Clark
Albert Smith

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: Penny S.
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 05:41 PM

We lived for a while in the hinterland behind Rye, and came to know the story.

One thing we could not find, though, and I think my father would like to, was why the lifeboat bore the name it did. It's a very minor point in such a story, and not one appropriate to ask in many contexts where the story comes up, such as the lifeboat shed.

Perhaps this is distant enough to ask? Does anyone know?

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: SussexCarole
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 05:46 PM

Maria Cunnigham from Sussex has written a song about this disastor & a book is available written by Geoff Hutchinson.

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: Fran
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:02 PM

I have the book by Geoff Hutchinson and it says

"The Mary Stanford was purchased from the continuing legacy of a Mr John Stanford of Regents park, London, a great admirer of the lifeboat service, who had earlier bequeathed a large sum of money to have a lifeboat built and dedicated to the memory of his mother."

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: Edain
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 05:53 AM

I know the song from the singing of various people in which it says the craft was named after John Stanford's wife, but I'd bow to the superiour knowledge of Geoff Hutchinson if he says it was his mother.

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST,ALMAZ
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 01:53 PM

Hello. Writer of the Mary Stanford song here. My mistake. The Mary Stanford WAS named after John Stanford's mother, not his wife. Good old-fashioned incompetence, I'm afraid. Our bass player, Phil, pointed this out about two years ago, and I was gutted!!
Has anyone noticed that this thread began on November 14th - the very date in 1928 that the mary Stanford went on her final voyage?
Thanks for the nice comments by the way.

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST,Skipy
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 05:55 PM

It's still a wonderful song of a heart rending story of altruism, thank you so much for writing it & putting it to music, when I first heard it, it rocketed into my "best 10 songs ever list" & I.ve been in the game for 33 years now!

Regards Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST,Terry Cutting
Date: 29 May 08 - 04:16 PM

If you have enjoyed the song,Why not take a trip to Rye harbour and visit the church and the grave of these brave men? And then you could make a donation to the RNLI. Im sure thay would thank you for it.    Regads Terry Cutting ( Grandson of Henry Cutting)

Subject: RE: mary stanford of rye today
From: Pistachio
Date: 29 May 08 - 05:36 PM

Terry, you've got me thinking.
Rye is a bit far from East Yorkshire but I'll make my way to the nearest RNLI (at Bridlington I believe) and make my donation there.
I too have the Pint and Dale version of the song - such a shame some of the best songs bear the saddest news.
Regards,Hazel.

Subject: RE: mary stanford of rye today
From: GUEST,Jacqui Stanford
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 07:12 PM

I am a parish councillor at Rye Harbour and you may all be pleased to hear that the Mary Stanford Lifeboat House is now Grade II listed and we are going to restore it to its original state when built. Then we will have a permanent display to the 17 brave men who gave their lives so selflessly leaving behind broken families who had not even had a chance to say goodbye. This had a massive impact on Rye Harboour and the families which can be seen in the churchyard at Rye Harbour with the grave of Julia Pope who died of a broken heart months after her fine brave three sons gave up their lives. See www.marystanford.co.uk

Subject: ADD: Mary Stanford of Rye (Allen Maslen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Nov 14 - 12:14 AM

These lyrics are from the Website of William Pint and Felicia Dale.

THE MARY STANFORD OF RYE
(Allen Maslen)

When master John Stanford of London town died
They read out his will and his legacy spied
It said take this bequest for to build me a craft
So that with it my name shouldn't die
And give it to the R.N.L.I.

So they fashioned a lifeboat of Liverpool class
38 feet from the stem to the aft
With a close reefed mainsail on a 20 foot mast
And to grant the last wish of his life
Named it Mary after his wife

She went into service in 1916
And 63 times from the boathouse she screamed
Cross the shale of Rye Bay
Through the teeth of the storm
And into the mouth of the waves
All sailors' lives there to save

CHORUS
Johnny come home they all sing from the pier
On the 15th day of November each year
And one day the sea she will give up her dead
And home will come young Johnny Head
Home will come young Johnny Head

Young Johnny Head
Had just turned seventeen
And to serve on the lifeboat was
Young Johnny's dream
His father was the coxswain
His brother in the crew
And to serve he was willing to die
On the Mary Stanford of Rye

On November 15th
With the storm at its height
The Alice of Riga was losing her fight
Seven miles from Dungeness
She was drifting and lost
And the crew prayed and cried
To the moon
That's when they heard the maroon

It was four in the morning
When young Johnny Head
On hearing the signal
He leapt from his bed
With his father and brother
They ran like the wind
That whipped up the furious waves
But there were lives to be saved

To haul out the lifeboat
Took blood, sweat and tears
It took them two hours
Must have seemed like two years
Exhausted and spent, they set her afloat
And into the barbarous waves
Rowed Mary to Alice's aid

It was 6:45 when the shoremen lost sight
of the Mary as she pitched out into the night
And at 6:51 the coastguard he rang,
Saying "Stand down your lifeboatmen brave
For the Alice is already saved."

Nobody knows from that day to this,
Why the coastguard got word
At eleven past six
But the message he kept forty minutes or more
While seventeen brave men of Rye
Rowed into the tempest to die

It was almost noon on the terrible morn
And the families and launch crew had waited since dawn
When suddenly somebody pointed and cried
And there in the surf and the spray
The Mary Stanford she lay

Her body was battered
Her keel was upright
No close-reefed mainsail
No crewman in sight
They hauled her ashore
And they knelt round and prayed
Then gazed out again at the main
And the tears they ran like the rain

Then one by one
The sea gave up her dead
First Willie Clark then young Jimmy Head
Then Albert and Rob, the two Cutting boys
And three from the Pope family
And nine more sons of the sea

But young Johnny Head
He never came home
He lies out somewhere in the ocean alone
His comrades lie buried
In the churchyard at Rye
And they keep him a space for his bed
Once day they'll find Johnny Head

So the next time you sail
Around Hastings and Rye
Look to the distance and keep out an eye
And if you see a young man from the R.N.L.I.
Standing guard over the foam
You'll know that Johnny's come home


recording by Meet on the Ledge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5PiW3fn6uQ