Sam Bennett (1865–1951) was an English

Morris dance Morris dancing is a form of English folklore, English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers in costume, usually wearing bell pads on their shins, their shoes or both. A ban ...

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

r and

traditional singer A traditional singer, also known as a source singer, is someone who has learned folk songs in the oral tradition, usually from older people within their community. From around the beginning of the twentieth century, song collectors such as Cecil ...

from

Ilmington Ilmington is a village and Civil parish#United Kingdom, civil parish about north-west of Shipston-on-Stour and south of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Cotswolds in Warwickshire, England, Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish ta ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. He was visited by

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...

in 1909. Sharp studied the dances of Bennett's Morris dancing troupe, but was critical of some "new" elements of the dances, noting that the older dancers in the village performed one particular dance "exactly as Kimber dances it". He noted down some of Sam's songs including "Thorney Moor Woods" and " Admiral Benbow". Bennett collaborated with

Mary Neal Mary Neal (born Clara Sophia Neal; 5 June 1860 – 22 June 1944) was an English social worker, suffragette and collector of English folk dances. Neal was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, to a prosperous family. Her father was David Neal, a butto ...

and

Clive Carey Francis Clive Savill Carey (30 May 188330 April 1968), known as Clive Carey, was an English baritone, singing teacher, composer, opera producer and folk song collector. Biography Clive Carey was born at Sible Hedingham, Essex, in 1883. He was ...

around 1910, who recorded Ilmington dances in the Esperance Morris Book. In the 1930s, the American song collector

James Madison Carpenter James Madison Carpenter, born in 1888 in Blacklands, Mississippi, near Booneville, in Prentiss County, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the ...

recorded Sam Bennett singing several old ballads, all of which can be heard online courtesy of the

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodi ...

; these include Lord Bateman, Barbara Allen,

Blow Away the Morning Dew "The Baffled Knight" or "Blow Away the Morning Dew" () is a traditional ballad existing in numerous variants. The first-known version was published in Thomas Ravenscroft's ''Deuteromelia'' (1609) with a matching tune, making this one of the few ear ...

Lord Lovel Lord Lovel (Roud 49, Child 75) is an English-language folk ballad that exists in several variants. This ballad is originally from England, originating in the Late Middle Ages, with the oldest known versions being found in the regions of Gloucester ...

and

Our Goodman "Our Goodman" (Child 274, Roud 114) is a Scottish and English humorous folk song. It describes the efforts of an unfaithful wife to explain away the evidence of her infidelity. A version of the song, "Seven Drunken Nights", was a hit record for T ...

. Peter Kennedy recorded an 85 year old Bennett singing several songs in 1950; the full recording is available via the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word ...

. The Ilmington Morris Men credit Sam Bennett with the survival of their local tradition.

''I have played more than 100 tunes on the fiddle in an evening and know more than 40 songs, while the country dances I picked up from bands of old fiddlers as they were danced a quarter of a century ago’'' (Sam Bennett, ''Stratford-upon-Avon Herald'' 18 August 1910).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Sam 1865 births 1951 deaths English folk musicians People from Stratford-on-Avon District