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As Honorary Secretary of the Folk-Song Society and editor of its journal, Lucy E. Broadwood played a major role in the Edwardian phase of the first folk song revival in England. Yet even before the foundation of the society in 1898 she had established herself as one of the leading English folk song collectors. Making extensive use of her diaries, which are extant at the Surrey History Centre in Woking, this article explores the beginnings of Broadwood's fascination with vernacular song, the development of her network of friends and collaborators interested in folk song and folklore, the genesis of her first two important publications, Sussex Songs and English County Songs, and her work as a song collector during the 1890s with such informants as Samuel Willett, Clara Wilson, Patience Vaisey, Henry Burstow, and a group of singers from the Surrey village of Dunsfold.
Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (1858-1929) was the youngest daughter of Henry Fowler Broadwood, a successful businessman whose firm had a long history of building high-quality Broadwood pianos (Figure 1)1 Although their money came from trade, the Broadwoods had been accepted into the local country gentry and they were acquainted socially with several aristocrats. Unmarried, Lucy was thus an upper middle-class spinster, and she had a private income, initially in the form of an allowance from her parents, later derived from investments in the family firm and in other stocks. The family had a London residence as well as a large manor house at Lyne, near Rusper, on the Surrey-Sussex border, and after her father's death in 1893 Lucy made London rather than Lyne her principal residence, eventually obtaining her own apartment, which she shared with her niece, Barbara Cra'ster.
Many individuals were involved in the wave of vernacular song collecting that we call the late Victorian folk song revival, but the three most substantial contributions were made by the Revd Sabine Baring-Gould, Frank Kidson, and Lucy Broadwood.2 Of these pioneer collectors, Broadwood was the only one who lived in the Home Counties and noted songs there.3 Her proximity to (and later residence in) London meant that she, unlike Baring-Gould and Kidson, was able to combine her interest in traditional song with ongoing participation in the capital city's music scene. This, together with...