Herbert Remmington was born in early 1876 in Hainford, where in 1879 his father was the blacksmith, having taken over his father’s business whilst the latter had become a beer retailer. Herbert’s mother’s family (Spinks) were also in the licenced trade, her parents running the Goat Inn in Skeyton from about 1862 to 1892, taking over from her grandparents who had previously kept the other pub in Skeyton, the Black Horse.
By 1911, he was in Briston, Melton Constable, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was now working as a photographer from his home in Church Street and gave the address as ‘The Studio’.
Herbert had learned to play the violin before taking up the dulcimer. He made his own dulcimer just after the 1914-18 war, ‘when Norwich was the home of the dulcimer’ and claimed to have played it in nearly every village hall and gentleman’s house in north Norfolk!
Herbert Remmington died in 1960. Link to Chris Holderness' article about traditional music in Briston & Melton Constable.
|
By
1891, when Herbert was 15, his family had moved into Norwich and were in
Albany Street; Charles
was a carriage smith
and Herbert a ‘photographer’s artist’. In 1901 Herbert, wife Margaret and
two-year old daughter Alice were at Cock Street, Wymondham and he is listed
as a self-employed photographer. Alice was born in Wymondham, so they had
been there since at least 1899. By 1903, Herbert was also the landlord of a
pub, the Papermaker’s Arms pub in Swanton Morley, but by August 1904 the
licence had passed to someone else. 
