Butler, Mrs Reservoir

Also known as: Holland, Reservoir

Singer

Collection date: Jun 1913

Area: Warwickshire

---

Mrs Reservoir Butler (or Holland?) at Armscote, nr Stratford-upon-Avon: age 68, 3 songs (FT2865-7) on 17 June 1913: This singer was a gypsy woman, and there are no census records yet retrieved for her.

A baptism entry for a baby girl Laura Anne Butler at Himbleton parish church*, Worcs dated 6 January 1886 lists her parents as Thomas and Reservoir Butler 'of no fixed abode - the child was born in a gipsy tent in the parish off Huddington'. Thomas Butler is shown as an 'umbrella mender'. Haddington is near Droitwich.

Two of her songs - 'God made a trance' and ' The Holy Well' were published by Sharp in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society 5 (1914).

* Himbleton is 18 miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon. A separate baptism entry for the same child is listed at the Wilmcote parish church just 5 days later on 11 January 1886. Same parents Thomas and 'Riziri' Butler, 'gypsies from Long Itchington'. These clues suggest that Reservoir Butler and her husband travelled over a considerable area either side of Stratford-upon-Avon before Sharp bumped into them.