Somerset - North West inc Clevedon

Sharp met only 7 singers* in the NW of Somerset (Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare area) but it was a part of the county that he knew well. In 1874, as a boy of 14, Sharp had gone to school in Weston-super-Mare for a couple of years. In August 1893 he was married in Clevedon and his wife and children regularly visited that town for their summer holidays. 

His collection of sea shanties from Mr Hole and Mr Stileman assisted him in the publication of his book English Folk-Chanteys (1914).

* 6 men and 1 woman, contributing 17 songs. Of the men, 2 had been sailors, 1 a quarryman, 1 a stone mason, 1 a railwayman, other N/K. No occupation listed for the woman.