Wyatt, Mrs Martha

Singer

Collection date: Aug 1904

Area: Somerset - Mendips (Harptree & Priddy)

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Martha Wyatt (1825-1908) gave 4 songs to Sharp at East Harptree - two ('Will the Weaver' and 'Lord Bateman') on 24 Aug 1904 and two ('The Moon shine bright' and 'The Holly and the Ivy') on 30 Aug 1906. These songs have hitherto been attributed to Lydia Wyatt (see profile of Lydia's husband George Wyatt) but there are reasons to doubt this attribution. The main reasons for doubt are that in neither field notes nor Faircopy entries did Sharp specify Lydia's name - he just put 'Mrs Wyatt'; secondly in all four entries Sharp specified 'East Harptree' as the location, whereas George & Lydia lived in West Harptree; finally in his field note entry for the Holly and Ivy song (1906), Sharp noted the singer's age as 82 (CJS1/9/1/1906/3 p13). At that time Martha Wyatt of East Harptree, who was baptised in April 1825, was 81, whereas Lydia Wyatt over in West Harptree was only 77. Sharp was usually pretty accurate with his ages.

Martha Wyatt was born Martha Lassbury, daughter of Joseph Lassbury, labourer, and his wife Jane. She was baptised on 10/4/1825 at East Harptree church. In 1841 she was a domestic servant in nearby Cameley and in 1851 a servant in Blagdon. In 1852 she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter who was baptised Jane Holloway in East Harptree church on 17/10/1852. The presumed father was Frederick Holloway (son of James Holloway of Ubley). In August 1853 marriage banns were read at East Harptree church for Frederick Holloway and Martha Lassbury to regularise the position but the wedding does not seem to have been enacted. Instead at Bristol St James (10/8/1855) Martha Lassbury, aged 30, married John Weston, aged 52, farmer and widower with 4 sons.

Together Martha and John Weston had 7 children in close proximity, moving from Compton Martin to Gurney Court Lower Farm in West Harptree, but John died in Aug 1869. On 21 May 1871, aged 46, she was remarried to James Wyatt, labourer, aged 29, at Bristol St James. Neither could sign their own names on the register. James sadly died in 1873 and Martha was widowed again.

In 1881 census Martha Wyatt was back in her home village of East Harptree, still responsible for four children. In 1891 and 1901 she was living with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Pharaoh Simmons in East Harptree (Smitham's Hill). Martha probably died in Clutton workhouse in March 1908 (to be confirmed: reg 5c371).

Note: Martha's first illegitimate child Jane Holloway became Jane Chapman (by her second marriage: see her performer profile) and she lived nearby in West Harptree with her family for over four decades from 1874 onwards on Sutton Road. Martha could therefore easily stay in touch with her many grandchildren there.

The final reason for supposing that it was Martha Wyatt who sang for Sharp (rather than Lydia Wyatt) is that when Sharp first encountered 'Mrs Wyatt' on 24 August 1904, he was pleased to take down his first notation of the 'Lord Bateman' ballad and the very next day he got his second variant from Mrs Jane Chapman in West Harptree. Surely this is a case of mother recommending daughter? Sharp faircopied the two versions on the same page (FT355). 

 

I am grateful to local historian Joanna Brown for her suggestions and knowledge about Martha Wyatt.