Alfred Curston (1857-1937) and Thomas Curston (1891-1963)
Alfred Curston was a wheelwright and carpenter. For a short time around 1891 he combined these trades with keeping a pub – the Butcher’s Arms in Hockering, a short distance from where he had been born in East Tuddenham and where he later lived in Low Street, North Tuddenham.
He was married to Charlotte and they had eleven children. One of their grandaughters, Joan Goreham, recalled ‘At the end of the day, my grandfather would sweep up the wood shavings, put away his precious tools and go indoors to his dulcimer. In winter, he would stay behind closed doors but on a summer evening the lovely sound would carry far and grandfather’s friends would sit quietly beside him listening to all the tunes they loved so well. He always ended each little recital with ‘The Sailor’s Hornpipe’.
Alfred’s eighth child, Thomas James Curston, never married and lived all his life in the carpenter’s shop on Low Street, in North Tuddenham, having followed in his father’s footsteps as a wheelwright and carpenter. Thomas also became a dulcimer player, even though he was stone deaf.
Michael Lumb, Alfred’s great grandson, contacted us in 2020 to tell us about Thomas and also to say that he now owned the dulcimer – and kindly sent us the photographs below. Michael believes the line of succession was: the dulcimer passed to Alfred’s son Thomas Curston in 1937, then to Michael’s uncle Harry Osborne in 1963, then onto his mother Barbara Lumb in 1998 and finally to him. The last time the dulcimer was played was by Thomas Curston, around 1960.
Alfred Curston’s dulcimer
The dulcimer is sturdily built, quite plain and a number of the bridges are missing. It seems to have had four strings per course and perhaps just 16 bridges, so quite a small model. A pair of very mismatched canes have also survived. As Alfred was a carpenter, it’s very possible he built the dulcimer himself.
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