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Does anyone know anything about the music played by John Dunford, thatcher and parish clerk, who was the leader of the band at Winterbourne Abbas? He died in 1897. It would be interesting to know whether the band was ever recorded on a cylinder, or whether the music they played was noted down or transcribed.
According to Jo Draper, Thomas Hardy's England, 1984, by Jo Draper and John Fowles, John Dunford had played in the church band for forty-two years. His son played the bass viol and Richard Tompkins the flute.
There is a photograph of John Dunford with his clarinet in that excellent book (paperback edition 1989, page 56). The photograph is in the keeping of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Dorset, County Museum, Dorchester. Ένα κλαρίνο από το Ντόρσετ !
He appears, with other Dunfords, in the parish records (see entries for the weddings of William Dunford and of Hester Dunford on 10 November 1886 and 28 June 1888 respectively.
Dorset County Museum has a selection of wind instruments on display, including double flageolet, flutes and clarinets: "all played in church bands during the early nineteenth century, However, they were also involved with the whole social and festive side of the village and also made music for dancing, May Day celebrations, the harvest home, the Christmas Carol, the flower show and the club feast" (DCM)
For interest:
The Music the Church Lost by Rollo Woods
The Mellstock Band
Publicity Photo, Fantasia Music
The Music the Church Lost by Rollo Woods
The Mellstock Band
Publicity Photo, Fantasia Music
John Dunfords father was also John, born in 1790, and his mother was Martha Ford, who died in the Forston Asylum in 1849 (she developed epilepsy during her later pregnancies which became permanent some time after 1831). John and Martha are my 3x great grandparents, making John and William Dunford of the Winterbourne Abbas band, my second cousins, 2 and 3 times removed. The band played in the church until 1881 when the organ was installed, but continued playing for village event and carolling for more than a decade. They finally broke up 2 years before John died in 1897. William died in 1943, having been a member of the band and quire (church choir) for 63 years.
ReplyDeleteThe music he played would have been the tunes popular at the time, probably handed down from father to son, as the music Thomas Hardy played, had been. The book Hardy collected those tunes in, is displayed in the Dorset County Museum, along with his violin and other personal items. Some of the tunes Hardy collected can be found in a book by Dave Townsend - "The Thomas Hardy Song Book", available from the author, and anything by The Mellstock Band. Tim Laycock is another Dorset singer to look into, as he also recorded music from the West Gallery tradition.
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