In Bruton Town- Baggs (Dor) 1907 Hammond
[From Henry Edward Denison Hammond's MS in Vaughan Williams Collection. A bio of H.E.D. Hammond follows. Cf. In Bruton Town sung by Overd, 1904, collected Sharp.
R. Matteson 2016]
Wiki Bio: Henry Edward Denison Hammond, 1866 - 1910; early twentieth century folksong collector; brother of Robert Hammond.
Born 1866, Somerset, son of a clergyman. After leaving Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he took up a post at the Edinburgh Academy. There he met Dr. George Gardiner and they became firm friends. In 1899 Hammond was appointed Director of Education in Rhodesia, but after a year he suffered a severe breakdown in health, and returned to England. Early in 1905 Hammond and Gardiner were staying at Minehead in Somerset, and agreed to undertake some song collecting, following in Cecil Sharp's footsteps. Hammond collected 83 songs in Somerset during June 1905, with the help of his brother Robert, and H.A. Jeboult, an organist from Taunton. In August of the same year, he turned his attention to Dorset, collecting 193 songs in just under four months.
He collaborated with Gardiner - for the only time, it would appear - during January and February 1906, when the two men were staying at Bath in Somerset. A further 81 songs were collected. Subsequently the Hammond Brothers collected almost 600 more songs in Dorset, cycling out together from their home at East Clevedon in Somerset: Henry noted down the tunes, and Robert the words.
By late 1907 Henry's health had declined to the extent that he could no longer undertake these bicycle trips, and he collected only six more songs, in Wiltshire in February 1908. He died on 16th June 1910.
In Bruton Town- Sung by Mrs Baggs of Chedington, Dorset, in August, 1907 (Hammond Mss, D875).
1. In Bruton town there lives a farmer
Who had two sons and one daughter dear,
By day and night they was a-courting
To fill their parents' heart with fear.
2. "We think our servant courts our sister,
We think they has a mind to wed
We'll put an end to all their courtship,
And send [them] him silent to the grave."
3. A piece of hunting was provided,
Through woods and valleys where the briars grow;
And there they did this young man murder,
And into the pit his body throw.
4. Then these two villains returned from hunting
Not thinking what they had done,
"You're welcome home, my own true brothers,
Pray tell me, of my servant man?"
5 "We've a-left him where we've been a-hunting,
We've a-left him where he can't be seen.
To tell you plain you do offend us
You so quickly examined we."
6. Then she went to bed crying and lamenting,
Lamenting for her servant man;
She slept, she dreamed she saw him lie by her,
Covered all over in a pool of blood.
7. She woke up early, so early next morning,
And went to the brook where the briars grew;
And there she did behold her own true lover
Covered all over in a pool of blood.
8. She took her handkerchief out of her pocket
She wiped his eyes though they were blind
She kissed his tender sweet lips
'Here lies a bosom friend of mine."