The Singing Top Hat

The Song Collector and the Wherryman,

or Ralph Vaughan Williams meetsWilliam Barlow Debbage

Ralph Vaughan Williams' visits to Norfolk in 1905 to the Tilneys, King's Lynn and Sheringham, and in 1906 to King's Lynn for one day only, provided him with the sort of national music he had been looking for since December 1903 when he noted his first folk song, Bushes and Briars from Charles Pottipher at Ingrave in Essex. Having reaped such a rich harvest in Norfolk it is a little surprising that he did not return for over 18 months, though he was very busy in that time both noting songs and composing 3 Norfolk Rhapsodies amongst much else, (one is now lost). Then in April 1908 he visited Acle, South Walsham, Ranworth, Horning, Rollesby and Hickling. He was used to cycling round the countryside after folk songs, but as he kept no diary we don't know if he had brought his bicycle on the train with him on this visit. He may have had the use of a car from a friend at Ranworth Hall where he may have stayed for the eight days, or he might have put up at an Inn - quite possibly the very central Bridge Inn at Acle (Wey) Bridge. The landlord there, Edward Rose, sang one song to him, and about fifteen other songs were noted there on 6 of the 8 days, more than in any other location.

Acle Wey Bridge with the Bridge Inn on the right, c1908.

Vaughan Williams noted songs in 7 locations this visit; Acle Bridge, Horning New Inn and Horning Ferry being definitely alongside rivers where wherries travelled. Three other places are possibly so: a Hickling Inn, Ranworth, S Walsham, and only one, Rollesby is not on the main rivers. It seems as if he targeted places where he might find watermen of differing sorts, but it might also be that he was guided to those places by the singers he met early on, perhaps at Acle Bridge and thus went to places his singers knew.

On Good Friday, April 17th 1908, the seventh day of his trip, Vaughan Williams was at Horning Ferry, landlord Mr W R Crowe, and there noted 6 songs for sure and possibly 1 more (RVW was very bad at recording the details of singers, places,

and dates) from someone introduced to him simply as Barlow. He dutifully, and for once legibly, wrote this name in his manuscript book, causing me hours of fruitless searching - for the wrong name!

Horning Ferry Inn c1904

Mike Sparkes, Archivist of the Norfolk Wherry Trust, came to my rescue with another quote from Life in a Norfolk Village [Horning]: 'Barlow wasn't the man's real name, but Debbage. At some holiday festival he wore a top hat which bore the name of Barlow, and that fixed him for the remainder of his existence. If it had been Lincoln & Bennett instead of just Barlow the villagers would probably have adopted that just as readily. He was an old North Sea fisherman who later became a wherryman and finished up as a handyman at the New Inn'.

He has proved an interesting man to trace genealogically, and these are my best deductions from the records, ie guesses.

He was born in Ranworth in Jan - Mar 1859 and his father Stephen Debbage died in 1860. His mother Sarah married Robert Steward, an agricultural labourer, in 1865 and William was living with his step-father in Horning at the census on April 2nd 1871, but as he would have just celebrated his 12th birthday and probably finished with school, he presumably went to sea, as Carrodus tells us, soon after that, following his uncle Benjamin about 30 years earlier. For comparison Sam Larner of Winterton was born in 1878 and went to sea also aged 12. On that 1871 census night his mother Sarah was listed as a visiting nurse in St Clements, Norwich where there was also a 5 day old un-named baby in the Meek family.

Ten years later, in 1881, William was an unmarried 'bargeman', almost certainly the wherryman Carrodus mentions, in lodgings with Aaron and Sarah Cohen in Horning village next door to where he was living with his step-father in 1871. He was still in Horning, living with mother and step-father and as an unmarried labourer, in 1891 and 1901. He sang to Vaughan Williams just a quarter of a mile away in the Ferry Boat in 1908 and was working, as Carrodus says, as a servant at the New Inn in 1911. He died in 1923 aged 66.

So what sort of songs did this 49 year-old, tough, self-reliant ex sailor and wherryman learn over the years and produce when there was 'much singing' and his brother wherrymen were consuming all this alcohol? Probably the same ones he sang when Vaughan Williams offered him a shilling as he sometimes did, but not perhaps the sort you might have expected. There's one about a merchant ship approached by a pirate, but which shows a clean pair of heels and escapes; one about a two-timed girl who hangs herself and is found by her lover. There's the girl who watches her sweetheart sail away and learns he has died only when the ship

returns; a broken token song of love rewarded after a long parting; a young girl, seduced and pregnant, meets the father again and offers money and land if he will save her reputation and marry her, only to find he is engaged to another; and a 'weepy' about a boy orphaned by his smuggler father who appeals to a rich lady, herself an orphan, and is rewarded in her will. If he did sing the unattributed Old King Cole he sang an incremental chorus song about a nursery rhyme hero. Songs were soap-operas, news bulletins, romances, jokes and moral tales all rolled into a bundle of traditional tunes. The important thing was the self-made entertainment on the night.

In most of these cases RVW noted no words - quite usual for him as he was interested almost exclusively in the melodies - and I have had to find sets of words from other sources, so there is no proof that the words shown here are exactly what was sung. Only Old King Cole has a full set of words noted at the time and that's the one I'm least sure about. Usually, however, the title (the Roud number indexes these), and the tune give good clues to the song words. The URL http://vwml.org/record/rvw2/4/54 will take you straight to RVW's field notes of Bold Princess Royal as sung by Barlow in the Full English resource of the English Folk Song and Dance Society where you can see for yourself what RVW wrote, and how little there is to go on at times! Below is an even shorter example of Shannon Side as sung by Barlow.

Ralph Vaughan Williams - seeker of English musicwho came to Norfolk 5 times searching for folk songs

So now you see why I am so grateful to Charles F Carrodusand Mike Sparkes for identifying the Singing Top Hat!

Songs sung

by William Barlow Debbage to Ralph Vaughan Williams:rvw references, if prefaced by http://www.vwml.org/record/ will take you to the fieldnotes, or later neat versions, of the songs as noted by RalphVaughan Williams, contained in the Full English collection of the English Folk Song and Dance Society.

1 Shannon Side - Roud 618 - rvw2/4/51a young girl, seduced and pregnant, meets the father againand offers money and land if he will save her reputationand marry her, only to find he is engaged to another

2 Nancy - Roud 18525 - rvw2/4/52a broken token song of love rewarded after a long parting

3 Died for Love - Roud 60 - rvw2/4/63 a two-timed girl hangs herself and is found by her lover

4 Bold Princess Royal - Roud 528 - rvw2/4/54a merchant ship approached by a pirate, but which shows aclean pair of heels and escapes

5 Poor Smuggler's Boy - Roud 618 - rvw2/4/74a 'weepy' about a boy orphaned by his smuggler father whoappeals to a rich lady, herself an orphan, and is rewarded inher will

6 Faithful Sailor Boy - Roud 376 - rvw2/4/75the girl who watches her sweetheart sail away and learnshe has died only when the ship returns

7 Old King Cole (possibly) - Roud 1164 - rvw2/4/76an incremental chorus song about a nursery rhyme hero

The full collection of songs noted by Ralph Vaughan Williams on this 1908 visit as well as his 1910 trip to Filby and Rollesby, and his short stay in south Norfolk in December 1911 is available from the mustrad.org website where you can also buy the CD of RVW's 1905-6 visits to King's Lynn, the Tilneys and Sheringham, (each CD-ROM is £12 + £1.50 p&p). All produced by Alan Helsdon on the Mustrad (Musical Traditions) label.

Picture sources:

Acle Bridge - Pictures in Colour of Norfolk, Jarrolds c1908.This is where the A1064 now crosses the River Bure. Also known as Wey Bridge.

Horning Ferry - From the norfolkpubs.co.uk website. No otherdetails supplied. This building was destroyed by enemybombing in 1941. The current building dates from afteranother fire in 1965.

Alan Helsdon, for the Norfolk Wherry Trust, July 2017, abbreviated.