Squire, vicar, writer, song and tale collector 1834-1924
Sabine Baring-Gould was born into a wealthy family, lords of the manor in Lewtrenchard in Devon: his father was a magistrate and deputy Lieutenant of Devon. As a boy he travelled widely in Europe with his family and was educated by tutors. From 1852-1857 he studied at Clare College, Cambridge then taught at Hurstpierpoint School in Sussex for 7 years. He had a pet bat that sat on his shoulder while he taught.
He took Holy Orders in 1664 and became a curate in Yorkshire, where he married young mill girl, Grace and wrote the hymn, Onwards Christian Soldiers.
From 1771 he spent 10 years as the rector of East Mersey in Essex.
Baring-Gould had inherited his family’s 3000 acre estate in Lewtrenchard, near the Devon-Cornwall border, in 1772. Nine years later he appointed himself the rector of Lewtrenchard and moved back home, where he stayed, with Grace and their large family, for the rest of his life.
He was a prolific and popular author, writing many, many novels, short stories and collections including a 16 volume Life of the Saints and A Book of Were Wolves.
Lewtrenchard was an ideal base to collect both songs and stories of Devon and Cornwall: Baring-Gould went out collecting folk songs from the old singing men and published four volumes of Songs and Ballads of the West in 1889-91.
His Books of the West, one Devon, one Cornwall, contain tales and place writing from the two counties. They are good reads - Charles Causley wrote in his introduction to Book of Cornwall that Baring-Gould had the
‘quirkiness, tall tales, the fine swing and dash of the narrative, the energy and enthusiasm of a born storyteller’.
Although facts were not his strong point the ‘poetic truth of his narrative is beyond question.’
Songs and Ballads of the West 1889-91
Book of Cornwall 1899
and many other books….
https://www.sbgcentenary.co.uk/#welcome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1dAZnEQYBg
‘As I walked out: Sabine Baring Gould and the search for the folk songs of Devon and Cornwall.’ Martin Graebe
