Whitcombe, George

Singer

Collection date: Jan 1906

Area: Somerset - Bridgwater Surrounds

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George Whitcombe of Meare, nr Glastonbury (1846-1922): age 61, 3 songs 19 Jan 1906: One of George’s songs ‘In Strawberry Town’ (FT803: a version of the murder ballad ‘In Bruton Town’) was published in the Folk Song Journal 5 (1915). Sharp re-visited George in Jan 1907 to notate all 3 songs again.

George was born c1846 in Meare and married Mary Ann Lewis at Wedmore on 16 April 1866. Neither could sign their name. They had 12 children but lost 2. George was an agricultural labourer in Meare nearly all his life but in 1911 was a ‘turfcutter’ like his son Thomas, 31. He probably died June qr 1922 5c 695.