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Billy Bennington
named John Rose as the man from whom he bought his dulcimer in 1922. Billy
recalled:
‘He was a professional dulcimer player of his day. He used to play in a pub
called the Pigeon which is down St Benedict’s (Norwich) but the last time I
saw it, it was an off-licence house. The old man was 85 when I bought it
from him and I.jpg)
was 22 and he told me his father had it before him and gave it to him when
he was a boy. He said he could remember his father playing it, when he was
just big enough to see on the table. That was a few years ago. His father
was a sailor so it could be foreign, I don’t know. The old boy used to play
in the Pigeon when times were slow. You see he was in the boot trade (now
I’m going back before the 1900s). He said that he kept his wife and four
children on his dulcimer, and he’d say ‘You know sometimes I’d come back
with as much as four shillings a day and I’d get me beer and bacca free and
food, I’d be better off playing than in work. Well he made boots and he’d
make the uppers during the day and take them home to stick and he’d sell
them for two shillings. Hard times you know.’
The Pigeons corner of St. Benedict's Street and Lower Westwick Street
‘When I brought the dulcimer away I gave thirty five shillings for it. That
was a week’s wages on the farms. Anyway I felt sorry for him, ‘cos there sat
the poor old lady well over eighty and the old man said ‘Mother, there goes
our breadwinner’. Any rate, I’d only got two pounds in my pockets. That was
the week before Christmas so I hadn’t the cheek to ask him for the five bob
change, so I gave it to him.’
Investigating possibilities to find out who John Rose was, we know that
Billy must have bought it in December 1922, as he was born in 1900. It seems
very likely that “our” John Rose was born in 1847 in Deptford, although the
family were back in Norwich by the time he was three. John worked all his
life in the boot trade and had four children, and for most of his life lived
in the St Augustine area of Norwich, a few minutes’ walk from the Pigeons
Pub in St Benedict’s Street. His parents had lived for about seven years in
the London area, and although we do not know what his father was doing for a
living at that point, it doesn’t look very likely he was a sailor of any
sort. Perhaps that memory was from a previous generation, or from someone
unrelated from whom his father had bought the dulcimer originally. His
father, Francis Rose, who gave him the dulcimer, was born in 1810 in Old
Catton in Norwich and a master shoemaker in earlier censuses.
 The
Eastern Evening News from 20 March 1908 mentions what must surely be our man
and gives an indication of his social and musical life at the time:
‘The Perseverance Bird Breeding Society held their annual social at the Rose
Inn, in St Augustine's, on Tuesday, when upwards of 90 members and friends
gathered … Songs were rendered by Messrs. Thouless, E. Fox, Wigger, Chilvers,
and Mounser, a recitation by Mr. Tillett, a stepdance and song by a friend,
while Mr. Rose with his selections on the dulcimer was greatly appreciated.’
The Rose Inn, St Augustine's
In The Norfolk Chronicle on 2st August 1897, the following was reported, in
a case against the licensee of the Duke of York, in Bishop Bridge Road,
Thorpe St Andrew. It is probably not John Rose himself, as the dulcimer
player is described as a young man, and Rose was 50 by this time. It does,
however, illustrate the context for the story told by Billy Bennington.
‘The landlady was in charge of the house, and witness [a police officer]
asked her if her husband had a music and singing licence, and she replied in
the negative. He told the woman she had no right to allow singing, and Mrs.
Todd replied that the man came "busking," and played for what he could get
from the customers. Witness told her it was not the first time the man had
been there, and she answered, "No, he generally comes here on Saturday
nights." On the 17th ult. he again went to the house, and found the same man
playing a dulcimer, and a man singing in the presence of twenty-six other
persons. The company were very orderly and were listening to the
entertainment. On the 12th July he was near the house and heard music and
singing, but did not go in. On the 5th music and singing was going on, and
the room appeared to be full of people. Cross-examined: Witness was told
that the man playing the dulcimer was a shoemaker on strike. The song the
young woman sang was 'Let us be sweethearts again,' and it appeared to be
much appreciated … In answer to Mr. Wild, witness said the company were very
orderly, and as well behaved if they had been in a concert-room. They
appeared to be greatly taken up with what was going on ... [Mr Reeve]
suggested that the fact of the man going into the house two Saturday nights
and two other nights did not prove that the room was ordinarily used for
singing and music. He was not engaged by the landlord, but simply went into
the house to pick up a few coppers as he was out on strike. He was not
regularly engaged, and submitted, therefore, that there should be no
conviction. The magistrates dismissed the case.’
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