Welcome to the News page for the new East Anglian Dulcimers website.
As you will see, at present this website is being rebuilt and this page is where you can find out about the latest developments.
14th June
A few more Suffolk players added this week – Richard Green who lived in Lowestoft and, for a brief period, Ipswich, where he helped build the “New” Town Hall (1868) and then provided entertainment for the workmen to celebrate its opening! Also John Stebbing, who ran the famous Nutshell pub in Bury St Edmunds in the 1870s and had a huge second hand emporium selling musical instruments. Have a browse and enjoy the varied stories of the dulcimer in the nineteenth century.
3rd June
A number of new pages have been added, mainly to the Suffolk players section, including some lovely details about the Shemming family – Samuel who played for a village New Year’s Eve party in 1873, and then in a more urban setting in an Ipswich social club, and his son Stanley, who narrowly missed being recorded in the early 1960s.
Also improved from the old site, thanks to additional information from local historians, is the page about James Caston, maker from Forncett in Norfolk, whose instrument is known to date from before 1865.
28th May
We’ve just heard the sad news that dulcimer player Ian Clabburn has died, and so as a tribute to him and his family, the page on his grandfather and great grandfather (both called Walter George Clabburn) has been updated and uploaded.
20th May
The Suffolk Makers section is now up-to-date, with the nice addition of a story about a dulcimer challenge at a circus. The last of the Suffolk makers to be added is William Chilvers, a professional musical instrument maker who was known to have made a dulcimer in 1859, and it was one of his instruments that made its player – a Mr Howard – a ‘world champion’, likely to have been in 1862!
6th May
The next section on the go is the Suffolk Makers. So far James Boulton Knights, Jimmy Stammers and Lennie Pearce are live. There’s lots of new information on the latter, thanks to newspaper reports of his dance band activities in the 1920s and 30s particularly. The pages on the Stammers family of makers and players from Suffolk and Essex have also been updated, making the Essex section complete – for now! And now (11th May) I’ve just added Walter Finter who is known to have been one of the more prolific makers – we have recently come across no. 25!
8th April
The entire Cambridgeshire section is now complete, featuring pages on some players and makers who never made it into the first edition of this website, including Willis Barnard from Haslingfield and Frederick Ashbolt from Huntingdon (some really great 19th century newspaper stories for him!).
1st April
Our latest addition is a major reworking of an important group of pages, centring on Norwich maker Mark Widdows and the story of one of his dulcimers, owned by Henry Edwards, which went to the USA in 1914-15.
There are five Widdows dulcimers known of at the moment which have all been documented and photographed.
Another Widdows dulcimer belonged to a name legendary to us – Herbert Sadd – as our friend Billy Bennington mentioned him and played a tune he had learned from him. Herbert’s brother Marshall Sadd also played, and is included in the section which has just gone live.
There’s also a dulcimer discovered fairly recently, made by “H. Edwards” who may or may not be ‘our’ Henry Edwards from Norwich, but the details are intriguing!
22nd March
The new Tuning section represents a significant improvement on the old website. There is more comment, following analysis of a number of historic instruments, an expanded section of tuning charts and an updated section on spare parts and restoration, including suppliers and advice.
We hope this will help to answer the question “What is an East Anglian dulcimer?” and also provide practical help for owners or people considering buying a historic dulcimer.
We would ask anyone with an old East Anglian style dulcimer to please get in touch as we are still adding to the database of instruments. Please download our guidance documents on taking a set of photographs and measurements for information and comparative purposes.
15th March
We are excited that the Design section is now up-and-running, with several pages of photos and details showing the decoration and dimensions of many East Anglian dulcimers.
New feature – there are now some short sound clips too!
New pages concentrating on some of the “dynasties” of local players:
Mollie Whitaker from Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk – a full suite of pages detailing her life and recordings with lots of photos of Mollie and her dulcimer.
Mollie’s father Jimmy Rutland
Oswald Stammers – the only documented dulcimer player from Essex (before the folk revival).
Oswald’s grandfather, Jimmy Stammers, a maker and player from near Beccles in Suffolk.
Billy Bennington, Norfolk dulcimer player – a full suite of pages detailing his life and recordings with lots of photos of Billy and his dulcimer.
Billy Cooper, Norfolk dulcimer player – a full suite of pages detailing his life and recordings with lots of photos of Billy and his dulcimer.
Billy’s father, Frederick Cooper
Reg Reader, Suffolk dulcimer player – a full suite of pages detailing his life and recordings with lots of photos of Reg and his dulcimer.
Reg’s grandfather, Charlie Philpot
Reg’s great grandfather, James Philpot
The pages for the Lawrence family from Cambridgeshire, makers and players, are also now live, meaning that there is representation from all four eastern counties on this site, with lots more still to be added of course.
All material on this website is copyright. Anyone wishing to quote or use this original research should credit it to Katie Howson and cite this website as the source. Please see our Terms and Conditions page for more information, and do contact me if you wish to use any of the contents in any way. Thank you.