Sabine Baring-Gould

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924). Courtesy Songs of the West.

Sabine Baring-Gould
Occupation	Anglican priest, landowner
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	Grace (Taylor)
Children	15
Relative(s)	Edward Baring-Gould

Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (28 January 1834 - 2 January 1924) was an English hymnist, novelist, hagiographer, antiquarian, and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 publications, a list which continues to grow. He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day Is Over". He also translated the carol "Gabriel's Message" from Basque into English.

Life

Baring-Gould was born in the parish of St Sidwell, Exeter, the eldest son of Edward Baring-Gould and his first wife, Sophia Charlotte (Bond). He was named for an uncle, Arctic explorer Sir Edward Sabine.

Because the family spent much of his childhood travelling round Europe, most of his education was by private tutors. He spent only about 2 years in formal schooling, first at King's College School in London (then located in Somerset House) and then, for a few months, at Warwick Grammar School (now Warwick School). Here his time was ended by a bronchial disease of the kind that was to plague him throughout his long life. His father considered his ill-health as a good reason for another European tour.

In 1852 he was admitted to Clare College, Cambridge, earning the degrees of B.A. in 1857, then M.A. in 1860.

During 1864, he became the curate at Horbury] Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire. While acting as curate he met Grace Taylor, 16-year-old daughter of a mill hand. His vicar arranged for Grace to live for 2 years with relatives in York to learn middle class manners. Sabine, meanwhile, relocated to become perpetual curate at Dalton, near Thirsk. He and Grace were married on 25 May 1868 at Horbury. Their marriage lasted until her death 48 years later.

The couple had 15 children, all but one of whom lived to adulthood: Mary (born 1869); Margaret Daisy (1870); Edward Sabine (1871); Beatrice Gracieuse (1874), died. 1876; Veronica (1875); Julian (1877); William Drake (1878); Barbara ( 1880); Diana Amelia (1881); Felicitas (bpt 1883); Henry (b. 1885); Joan (1887); Cecily Sophia (1889); John Hillary (1890); and Grace (1891).

Baring-Gould became the rector of East Mersea in Essex in 1871, and spent 10 years there. In 1880 he inherited the 3,000 acre (12 km²) family estates of Lew Trenchard in Devon, which included the gift of the living of Lew Trenchard parish. When the living became vacant during 1881, he was able to appoint himself to it, becoming parson as well as squire. He did a great deal of work restoring St. Peter’s Church at Lew Trenchard, and from 1883 to 1914 thoroughly remodelled his home, Lew Trenchard Manor.

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. His first book of songs, Songs and Ballads of the West (1889-1891), was the first folk song 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 named A Garland of Country Songs during 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 undertake the musical editorship for the new edition. Sharp and Baring-Gould also collaborated on English Folk Songs for Schools during 1907. This collection of 53 songs was widely used in British schools for the next 60 years.

Although he had to modify the words of some songs which were too rude for the time, he left his original manuscripts for future students of folk song, thereby preserving 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). 30 boxes of unpublished manuscript material on other topics (the Killerton manuscripts) are kept in the Devon Record Office in Exeter. The folksong manuscripts, including the notebooks used for gathering information in the field, were given by Baring-Gould to Plymouth Public Library in 1914 and deposited with the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office in 2006.

The complete collection of folk song manuscripts (including 2 notebooks not included in the microfiches edition) has been digitized and will be published online during 2011 by the Devon Tradition Project in association with the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Cecil Sharp dedicated his English Folk Song: Some conclusions to Baring-Gould.

Dartmoor

Baring-Gould, with his friend Robert Burnard, organised the first scientific archaeological excavations of hut-circles on Dartmoor at Grimspound during 1893. This resulted in the formation of the Committee of the Devonshire Association for the exploration of Dartmoor. The Committee co-opted Mr. R.N. Worth, Mr. R. Hansford Worth, Rev. W A. G. Gray, and Dr. Prowse. Baring-Gould was the Secretary and author of the first 10 annual reports until 1905. The Dartmoor Exploration Committee performed many archaeological digs of prehistoric settlements on Dartmoor and systematically recorded and in some cases restored prehistoric sites. The current state of many prehistoric stone rows and stone circles on Dartmoor owes much to the work of Sabine Baring-Gould and Robert Burnard and the Dartmoor Exploration Committee. Baring-Gould was President of the Devonshire Association for the year 1896.

File:Sabine Baring-Gould, age 5.PNG

Baring-Gould at age 5

File:Sabine Baring-Gould, age 35.PNG

Baring-Gould at age 35

Death

His wife Grace died in April 1916, and he did not remarry. When he buried his wife in 1916 he had carved on her tombstone the Latin motto, Dimidium Animae Meae ("Half my Soul").

Baring-Gould died on 2 January 1924 at his home at Lew Trenchard, and was buried next to his wife, Grace.

Writing

Baring-Gould wrote many novels (including Mehalah) and Guavas, the Tinner (1897), a collection of ghost stories, a 16-volume Lives of the Saints, and the biography of the eccentric poet-vicar of Morwenstow, Robert Stephen Hawker. His folkloric studies resulted in The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), one of the most frequently cited studies of lycanthropy. He habitually wrote while standing. His desk can be seen in the manor.

One of his most enduringly popular works was Curious Myths of the Middle Ages , first published in 2 parts during 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. H.P. Lovecraft termed it "that curious body of medieval lore which the late Mr. Baring-Gould so effectively assembled in book form."

Baring-Gould served as President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall for 10 years from 1897.

Recognition

His family home, Lew Trenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he had it rebuilt and is now a hotel.

In popular culture

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. Sabine himself is a major character of Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes novel The Moor, a Sherlockian pastiche. In this novel it is revealed that Sabine Baring-Gould is the godfather of Sherlock Holmes.

Publications

Novels

• Through Flood and Flame: A novel. (3 volumes), London: R. Bentley, 1868. Volume I
• The Chorister: A tale of King's College Chapel in the Civil Wars. Cambridge, UK: H.S. Ladds, 1869.
• Mehalah, A Story of the Salt Marshes. London: Smith, Elder, 1880.
• Little Tu'penny: A Tale. New York: Appleton, 1886; London: 1887.
• Court Royal: A story of cross-currents. (3 volumes), London: Smith, Elder, 1886. Volume II,Volume III
• Red spider: A novel. London: Chatto & Windus, 1887, 1906; New York: Appleton, 1887.
• The Gaverocks: A tale of the Cornish coast. (3 volumes), London: Smith, Elder, 1887; Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1888 Volume II, Volume III
  • also published as In the Roar of the Sea: A tale of the Cornish coast. (3 volumes), New York: National Book, 1891; London: Methuen, 1892. Volume I
• Richard Cable, the Lightshipman. London: Smith, Elder, 1888.
• Eve: A novel. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888; Toronto: W. Bryce, 1888.
• John Herring: A west of England romance. London: Smith, Elder, 1888. Volume II
• The Pennycomequicks: A novel. London: Collins, 1890; New York: Lovell, 1890. Volume I
• Arminell: A social romance. New York: Lovell, 1889; London: Methuen, 1890.
• Cheap Jack Zita. (3 volumes), London: Methuen, 1893. Volume II
• The Broom-Squire. New York & London: Stokes, 1895.
• Perpetua: A tale of Nimes in A.D. 213. New York: Dutton, 1897.
• Bladys of the Stewponey. London: Methuen, 1897.
• Siegried: A romance. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1904; Boston: L.C. Page, 1905.
• Mrs. Curgenven of Curgenven.London: Methuen, 1905.

Short fiction

• Jacquetta, and other stories. London: Methuen, 1890.

Non-fiction

• Iceland: Its scenes and sagas. London: Smith, Elder, 1865.
• Post Medieval Preachers. London: Rivingtons, 1865.
• The Book of Were-Wolves: Being an account of a terrible superstition. London: Smith, Elder, 1865.
• Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. London: Rivingtons, 1866; Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1867.

Volume II

• The Lives of the Saints. (16 volumes), London: J. Hodges, 1872, 1877; London: J.C. Nimmo, 1897; New York: Longmans Green, 1898. Volume I,

Volume II, Volume III, Volume IV, Volume V, Volume VI, Volume VII, Volume VIII, Volume X, Volume XIII, Volume XIV, Volume XV, Volume XVI

• The Origin and Development of Religious Belief. London: Rivingtons, 1869; New York: Appleton, 1870. Volume I, Volume II
• Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets. New York: Holt & Williams, 1872.
• The Vicar of Morwenstow: A life of Robert Stephen Hawker, M.A. London, King: 1876; London: Methuen, 1899.
• Germany: Present and past. London: C.K. Paul, 1879
  • also published as Germany. New York: Putnam, 1886
  • also published as The Story of Germany. London & New York: Putnam, 1886.
• Village Preaching for Saints' Days. London: Skeffington, 1881.
• Old Country Life. London: Methuen, 1889, 1890, 1913, 1969; Detroit, MI: Singing Tree Press, 1969.
• Conscience and Sin: Daily meditations for Lent. London: 1890.
• Historic Oddities and Strange Events. London: Methuen, 1891.
• The Church in Germany. London: 1891.
• In Troubadour Land: A ramble in Provence and Languedoc. London: W.H. Allen, 1891.
• Strange Survivals: Some Chapters in the history of man. London: Methuen, 1892.
• The Deserts of Southern France: An introduction to the limestone and chalk plateaux of ancient Aquitaine. London: Methuen, 1894. Volume I, Volume II
• Dartmoor Idylls. London: Methuen, 1896.
• A Study of St. Paul: His character and opinions. London: Isbister, 1897.
• The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. London: Methuen, 1897.
• An Old English Home and Its Dependencies. London: Methuen, 1898.
• A Book of the West, Volume 1: Devon. London: Methuen, 1899
  • also published as A Book of Devon. London: Methuen, 1903, 1906.
• A Book of the West, Volume 2: Cornwall. London: Methuen, 1899
• also published as A Book of Cornwall. London: Metuen, 1906.
• A Book of Dartmoor. London: Methuen, 1900.
• The Tragedy of the Caesars. London: Methuen, 1901.
• A Book of Brittany. London: Methuen, 1901.
• A Book of the Riviera. London: Methuen, 1905.
• The Book of the Rhine: From Cleve to Manz. London: Methuen, 1906; New York: Macmillan, 1906.
• Devon. London: Methuen (Little Guide), 1907.
• A Book of the Cevennes. London: John Long, 1907.
• A Book of the Pyrenees. London: Methuen, 1907.
• Devonshire Characters and Strange Events. London & New York: John Lane, 1908.
• Cornish Characters and Strange Events. London & New York: John Lane, 1909.
• Early Reminiscences, 1834-1864. New York: Dutton, 1922; London: John Lane, 1923; Detroit, MI: Gale, 1967.
• Further Reminiscences, 1864-1894. London: John Lane, 1925; New York: Dutton, 1925; Detroit, MI: Gale, 1967.

Juvenile

• Grettir the Outlaw: A story of Iceland. London: Blackie, 1880; New York: Scribner, 1880.
• Now the Day is Over (illustrated by Charlotte Mount Brock Schreiber). Toronto: Hart & Rawlinson, 1881
  • (illustrated by Olive P. Openshaw). London: W.S. Cowell, for Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1943
  • (illustrated by Preston McDniels). Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 2001.
• A Book of Fairy Tales (illustrated by Arthur Joseph Gaskin). London: Methuen, 1894.
• A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes (illustrated by Arthur Joseph Gaskin). London: Methuen, 1895, 1906; Chicago: A.C. McClurg, 1907.
• Old English Fairy Tales (illustrated by F.D. Bedford). London: Methuen, 1895.
• Sermons to Children. London: Skeffington & Son, 1907.

Edited

• Songs and Ballads of the West (with H. Fleetwood Sheppard). (4 volumes) Patey & Willis / Methuen, 1889-1891; (1 volume), London: Methuen, 1891.

• • revised as Songs of the West: Folksongs of Devon & Cornwall (with Cecil Sharp as musical editor), London: Methuen, 1905.
• A Garland of Country Songs (with H. Fleetwood Sheppard). London: Methuen, 1895.
• English Minstrelsie. (8 volumes), Edinurgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack / Grange Public Works, 1895.
• English Folk Songs for Schools (with Cecil Sharp). London: J. Curwen, 1880, 1900, 1906, 1910.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of English-language hymnists

References

• Frykman, G.C. & Hadley, E.J. (2004) Warwick School: a History ISBN 0946095469
• Purcell, William (1957) Onward Christian Soldier: a Life of Sabine Baring-Gould, parson, squire, novelist, antiquary, 1834-1924, with an introduction by John Betjeman. London: Longmans, Green

External links

Lyrics

• "Child's Evening Hymn" in A Victorian Anthology
• Sabine Baring-Gould at Hymnary.org (profile & 49 hymns)

Books

• Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, by Sabine Baring-Gould
• Works by Sabine Baring-Gould at Project Gutenberg
• Mehala full text at All Things Ransome

About

• Biography from Devon Discovering Devon, BBC
• 'Songs of the West': Sabine Baring-Gould and the Folk Songs of South-West England Official website.

Etc.

• Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society
• Devon Tradition Project