‘Mr. Howard’ – probably John Haward (1835-1902)
We heard of a ‘Mr Howard’ from Reg Reader, whose family dulcimer had been made in Halesworth:
“This dulcimer I’ve got now has been in our family, oh, nearly 100 years I guess. Mr Howard from Halesworth made it and my grandfather told me that this chap Howard claimed to be the world champion dulcimer player. Apparently when the travelling circus came to Halesworth they held a championship and it ended up between Howard and a clown from the circus. Well, no-one could choose between them so Mr Howard ends up by putting a handkerchief over the strings, turning the dulcimer round with the high notes near him and playing a tune. ‘Course the clown couldn’t do this so he won the contest.”
A great story! The background may not be entirely accurate – the dulcimer has since been identified as being made by William Chilvers, but it was evidently owned and played by Mr Howard, and he may well have had a hand in its making.
There are a couple of possibilities for this “Mr Howard”. First of all, there were several families with this name in and around Halesworth, some spelling their name Haward.
The first possibility seemed to be Robert Howard (1849-1921) who actually lived on the same street as both the Philpots and William Chilvers, whom we know to have been a musical instrument maker and player, including the dulcimer. Robert was a carpenter and joiner amongst many other practical skills, so for some while I was fairly convinced he was the man.
But then I thought again about the circus story, and had a hunt through the newspaper archives. I didn’t expect to find anything specific, but amazingly I chanced upon what I think may be the circus visit referred to in Reg’s family story!
There were a number of different circuses that visited Halesworth throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, but in 1862, they got a rare visit from Tom Sayers’ short-lived circus. Sayers was Britain’s final bare knuckle champion before the Queensbury Rules were enforced in 1867. He retired, aged 34, in 1860 and for about a year he ran a circus. The advertisement in the Halesworth Times is one of the biggest, most detailed advertisements I have ever seen, and “fits the bill” perfectly, as it is titled “Tom Sayers’ Champion Circus of the World.”
Now, Robert Howard would only have been twelve at the time, so it doesn’t seem that likely that he would be bold enough to style himself a champion dulcimer player by that age.
However … enter John Thomas Haward, painter, decorator and glazier by trade. In 1862, he was newly married and had just moved back to his home town of Halesworth after a few years living in Ipswich. He was in his mid-twenties. He could easily have decided to take up a “championship” challenge at that age, and his trades fit well with the Reader/Philpot family memory of him being a picture framer.
And at some point in the late 19th century, James Philpot (who was a bootmaker) acquired a dulcimer from this “champion” dulcimer player. James’ great grandson Reg Reader had the story handed down to him: “I was told that my great grandfather used to play in local halls and he had a big dulcimer which he didn’t like carrying round. So he crazed this old boy in Halesworth, who actually made picture frames, to swap him this one for the big one and … a pair of boots.”
I now think the most likely “old boy,” the self-styled dulcimer champion and possible maker or co-maker of the instrument to have been John Thomas Haward (1835-1902) (that’s always presuming that the champion and the picture-framer were one and the same person!)
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