The Parson & the Songmen
The Reverend Sabine Baring Gould was an exceptional parson and squire from Devonshire, England.
He is probably best remembered as the composer of the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
Born in Exeter in 1834, he died at his estate, Lewtrenchard Manor in West Devon, in 1924.
As 2024 is the centenary of his death it gives me the opportunity to spotlight what he considered to be the most important achievement of his life, that of collecting the old folk songs of Devonshire, and later Cornwall, as he termed it, 'from the mouths of the people'.
Join me as I tell stories about, and sing songs from, this far from ordinary Victorian country parson as he travelled by pony and trap across his native Devonshire seeking out songs that now form a major part of the English folk song tradition.
The Parson & the Songmen
S3 5 Further Reminiscences
In this fifth episode of the third series of The Parson and the Songmen, Mike explores Sabine's second autobiography 'Further Reminiscences'. In the book he discovers a song that seems to have , astonishingly, escaped Baring-Gould's keen censorship in order to make his song collection, as he put it, 'fit for Christian ears to hear!'
If the song had been through 'the cleansing process', then did the Reverend Gentleman think it was a fair reflection of society, or was it, indeed, just overlooked?
Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk
Podcast producer: jontidball@hotmail.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/
Mike's YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos
Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Celebration Group: https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/
Simon Mayor: mandolin.co.uk
Mike O'Connor: http://www.lyngham.co.uk/
Barbara Griggs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Arganteilin-Harp-Cornwall/dp/0954106857
Pete Coe: https://petecoe.co.uk/
Castle Heritage Centre, Bude: https://www.thecastlebude.co.uk/
Devon Association of Ringers: https://www.devonbells.co.uk/
Wren Music: https://www.wrenmusic.co.uk/