Henry Castling (19 April 1865 – 26 December 1933) was an English lyricist of

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

songs.

Biography

Castling was born in

Newington, London Newington is a district of Central London, just south of the River Thames, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It was an ancient parish and the site of the early administration of the county of Surrey. It was the location of the County ...

, the son of a street musician. He began writing songs in the 1890s, often collaborating on both comic and sentimental songs with Arthur J. Mills. They had their first success with "What-Ho! She Bumps" (1899), sung by Charles Bignall, followed by "Just Like the Ivy" (1902), performed by Marie Kendall.Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , p.152 By 1907, he had started to collaborate with another writer, Fred Godfrey, on songs such as "I’ll Tell Tilly On The Telephone" (1907), "Meet Me, Jennie, When The Sun Goes Down" (1907), "I Want You to See My Girl" (1908), and "Take Me Back to Yorkshire" (1910), which was later used by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

in his 1933 film '' Cavalcade''. Harry Castling (1865–1933), ''Fred Godfrey Songs''
Retrieved 16 July 2020 One of Castling's biggest successes was " Let's All Go Down the Strand" (1910), written with C. W. Murphy. He also wrote "Are We To Part Like This, Bill?" (1912) with Charles Collins; " The Tanks That Broke the Ranks Out in Picardy" (1916) with Harry Carlton; and, several years later, "Don’t Have Any More, Mrs. Moore" (1926), written with James Walsh and performed successfully by Lily Morris. Castling became destitute in his later years. He died in

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

in 1933, aged 68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castling, Harry 1865 births 1933 deaths English lyricists