Anne Geddes Gilchrist
Anne Geddes Gilchrist
(1863-1954)
Anne Geddes Gilchrist dedicated much of her life to collecting and studying English folk music, specialising in material from her native county of Lancashire. She played a supporting role in England's Folk-Song Society and was one of several independent-minded women active in folk music's so-called 'First Revival' between 1880 and 1914.
Exposed to folk songs through her parents' singing, Gilchrist was also fond of church hymns and singing games learned as a child at her grandfather's house in Cheshire. Her chance attendance at a public lecture by an English folk song collector later re-awakened her childhood memories and between 1898 and 1909 Gilchrist began actively studying and collecting folk songs. She amassed a considerable number of ballads, carols, street cries, nursery songs, hymns, and dance tunes. She was especially proud of the shanties and sea songs she noted from an old sailor in Southport (the first published in the Folk-Song Society's Journal) and the seasonal Lancashire rush-cart and pace-egging songs. Gilchrist's collection, though not as large as others, gained her the respect of her fellow folk music collectors.
Frank Kidson urged Gilchrist to join the Folk-Song Society in 1905. In 1906, her colleagues there invited her to join the Editorial Board, an activity which became an important part of her life's work. She spent countless hours researching and writing notes about material published in the Journal. She wrote more than 40 articles for the Society's Journal between 1906 and 1950, the topics ranging from the history of individual songs such as The Bitter Withy and Death and the Lady to an overview of particular genres such as street cries and carols. Gilchrist's special areas of expertise were children's singing games and the history of tunes. Her most widely influential articles delved into the history of hymn tunes that originated in traditional folk melodies. It was Gilchrist's editing of major collections of Manx, Highland Scots, and Irish songs for the Society's Journal that was her considered her most important contribution to folklore scholarship.
Gilchrist received many awards in recognition of her selfless contributions to folk music. The Editorial Board dedicated the 1951 issue of the Journal to her. She was especially proud of receiving the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), a Fellowship in the Society of Antiquaries, and the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
After her death, her executor sent her papers to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML). The collection includes songs, tunes and also correspondence, the texts of her lectures and articles, and miscellaneous items ranging from poems to an old valentine.
Browse Anne Geddes Gilchrist's collection in The Full English digital archive.
