Easton, Edmund

Singer

Collection date: Jan 1916

Area: Somerset - Bridgwater Surrounds

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Edmund Easton of Meare (1886-1940): age 30, 2 songs (FT3095/6) on 16 Jan 1916: Edmund’s 2 songs, along with Frederick Vowles, were the last songs collected by Sharp in Somerset. Six months later, at the age of 56, Sharp went to America to begin collecting folk songs in the Appalachian Mountains.

Edmund Easton’s birth was registered April qr 1886 (5c 540), 6th child of Robert Easton, agricultural labourer and his wife Jane. When Edmund enlisted with the Royal Regiment of Artillery (Regiment no. 17238) on 12/11/1914, he stated he was 28 and that his occupation was ‘peat merchant’. Whether Edmund was home on leave or perhaps recuperating when he met Sharp is not known – there are no comments in the field notebook CJS1/9/2/1916/1 p9. What is known, however is that Edmund never married and that at some point he was committed to the Wells Mental Hospital, where he died aged 53 on 22/2/1940.