Sabine Baring-Gould
A portrait of the author
Born	28 January 1834 Exeter, England
Died	2 January 1924 Lewtrenchard, Devon, England
Occupation	Anglican priest
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Grace Taylor

The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted Year 1834 ( MDCCCXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Exeter ( (IPA ˈeksɪtər is a city, district and County town of Devon, England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers invading the Roman Empire. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted Year 1834 ( MDCCCXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Events 366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers invading the Roman Empire. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hagiography ( is the study of Saints. A hagiography, from Greek (hağios (ἅγιος "holy" or "saint" and graphē (γραφή An antiquarian or antiquary is one concerned with Antiquities or things of the past His bibliography lists more than 1240 separate publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, Lewtrenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he rebuilt it and is now a hotel. Okehampton is a Town and Civil parish in Devon, England, at the northern edge of Dartmoor, on the River Okement. Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day Is Over". A hymn is a type of Song, usually religious specifically written for the purpose of praise adoration or Prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities " Onward Christian Soldiers " is a 19th century English Hymn. He also translated the carol "Gabriel's Message" from Basque to English. Gabriel's Message, or The angel Gabriel from heaven came ( Birjina gaztettobat zegoen) is a Basque Christmas folk carol about the Annunciation He habitually wrote standing up, and his desk can be seen in the manor.

Biography

Because the family spent much of his childhood travelling round Europe his education was mostly conducted by private tutors. He spent a period of about two years in formal schooling, first at King's College School London (then located in Somerset House) and then, for a few months, at Warwick Grammar School. Warwick School is an independent school for boys in Warwick, England, and is reputed to be the third-oldest surviving school in the country after Here his time was cut short when a bronchial attack of the kind that was to plague him throughout his long life gave his father the excuse for another trip to the South of France for the sake of the boy's health.

In 1853 he went up to Cambridge, earning the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1857, then Master of Arts in 1860 from Clare College, University of Cambridge. A Master of Arts ( Latin: Magister Artium) is a Postgraduate academic Master's degree awarded by universities in a large Clare College is a college of the University of Cambridge, the second oldest surviving college after Peterhouse. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the In 1864, he became the curate at Horbury Bridge, West Yorkshire. West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of It was while acting as a curate that he met and fell in love with Grace Taylor, the 16-year-old daughter of a mill hand. He sent Grace to live for two years with a vicar's family in York to learn proper manners, then brought her back and married her in 1868 at Wakefield. York ( is an historic Walled city sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. Wakefield lies at the heart of the City of Wakefield, a Metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. ^[1][2] Their marriage lasted for 48 years, and the couple had 15 children, all but one of whom lived to adulthood. When he buried his wife in 1916 he had carved on her tombstone the Latin motto Dimidium Animae Meae ("Half my Soul"). Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

In 1871 Baring-Gould became the rector of East Mersea in Essex, where he spent 10 years. The word rector ("ruler" from the Latin regere and Rector meaning "Teacher" In Latin has a number of different meanings but all of them indicate an academic East Mersea is a scattered village and Civil parish on Mersea Island in the English county of Essex.

In 1880 he inherited the family estates of Lewtrenchard, Devon, which comprised 3,000 acres (12 km²) and in 1881 he installed himself at Lewtrenchard as both Squire and Parson. Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name In Feudal or Medieval times a squire was a Man-at-arms in the service of a Knight, often as his Apprentice. In the pre- Reformation church a parson was the priest of an independent Parish church, that is a parish church not under the control of a larger ecclesiastical or He did a great deal of work restoring St. Peter’s Church, Lewtrenchard, and his home Lewtrenchard Manor.

Baring-Gould died on 2 January 1924 at his home at Lewtrenchard and was buried next to his wife, Grace. Events 366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers invading the Roman Empire. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Folk songs

He regarded as his principal achievement the collection of folk songs that he made with the help of the ordinary people of Devon and Cornwall. Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar His first book of songs, Songs and Ballads of the West (1889–91), was the first collection published for the mass market. The musical editor for this collection was Henry Fleetwood Sheppard, though some of the songs included were noted by Baring-Gould's other collaborator Frederick Bussell.

Baring-Gould and Sheppard produced a second collection called A Garland of Country Songs in 1895. A new edition of Songs of the West was proposed for publication in 1905. Sheppard had died in 1901 and so the collector Cecil Sharp was invited to undetake the musical editorship for the new edition. Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924 was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early twentieth century, and many Sharp and Baring-Gould also collaborated on English Folk Songs for Schools in 1907. This collection of 53 songs was widely used in British schools for the next 60 years.

Though he had to modify the words of some songs which were too rude for Victorian ears, he left his original manuscripts for future students of folk song. His work preserved many beautiful pieces of music and their lyrics which otherwise might have been lost.

The folk-song manuscripts from Baring-Gould's personal library and from public libraries have been published as a microfiche edition available for study in the main Devon Libraries and other places (including the Vaughan Williams memorial Library in London). Thirty boxes of unpublished manuscript material on other topics (the Killerton manuscripts) are kept in the Devon Record Office in Exeter. Exeter ( (IPA ˈeksɪtər is a city, district and County town of Devon, England. The folksong manuscripts, including the notebooks used in the field, given to Plymouth Public Library were deposited with the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office in 2006.

Cecil Sharp dedicated his English Folk Song—Some Conclusions to Baring-Gould.

Literature

Baring-Gould wrote many novels (including Mehalah), a collection of ghost stories, a 16-volume The Lives of the Saints, and the biography of the eccentric poet-vicar of Morwenstow, Robert Stephen Hawker. Morwenstow is the most northerly Parish in Cornwall, UK. It is made up of several Hamlets including Shop Woodford Gooseham Eastcott Woolley Youlestone Robert Stephen Hawker ( 3 December 1803 &ndash 15 August 1875) often known as Stephen Hawker, was His folkloric studies resulted in The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), one of the most frequently cited studies of lycanthropy. See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to Half-way through, the topic changes to crimes only vaguely connected to werewolves, including grave desecration and cannibalism. Cannibalism (from Spanish es ''caníbal'' in connection with cannibalism among the Antillean Caribs, also called anthropophagy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος

One of his most enduringly popular works was Curious Myths of the Middle Ages , first published in two parts in 1866 and 1868, and republished in many other editions since then. "Each of the book's twenty-four chapters deals with a particular medieval superstition and its variants and antecedents," writes critic Steven J. Mariconda. ^[3] H. P. Lovecraft called it "that curious body of medieval lore which the late Mr. Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Baring-Gould so effectively assembled in book form. "^[4]

Baring-Gould served as President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall for ten years, starting in 1897. The Royal Institution of Cornwall ( RIC) was founded in Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, in 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical ^[5]

Personal life

Baring-Gould at age 5

Baring-Gould at age 35

Stories of his own eccentricity have been exaggerated. He did for a time, have a bat in his care while he was teaching at Hurstpierpoint. Hurstpierpoint is a village in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. More usually it lived in an old sock in his room, where its life was ended when a housemaid stepped on it. It is also told how, at a children's party he asked a small girl, "And whose little girl are you?" whereon she burst into tears, and said: "I'm yours, Daddy. " This story was verified by his daughter, Joan, who said that the little girl was her.

One grandson, William Stuart Baring-Gould, was a noted Sherlock Holmes scholar who wrote a fictional biography of the great detective—in which, to make up for the lack of information about Holmes's early life, he based his account on the childhood of Sabine Baring-Gould. William Stuart Baring-Gould (1913&ndash1967 was a noted Sherlock Holmes scholar best known as the author of the influential 1962 fictional biography Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887 Sabine himself makes an appearance in Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes novel The Moor. Laurie R King (born 1952 is an American Author best known for her Detective fiction. The Moor is the fourth book in Mary Russell series by Laurie R

Notes

References

• Warwick School: A History (2004) by G N Frykman and E J Hadley ISBN 0946095469

External links

• 'Songs of the West' - Sabine Baring-Gould and the Folk Songs of South-West England
• Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, by Sabine Baring-Gould
• Works by Sabine Baring-Gould at Project Gutenberg
• Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society
• Biography from Devon Discovering Devon by the BBC