Oswald Stammers (1904-2002)
Oswald Stammers was at least the third generation in his family to play the dulcimer. He was born on 26th September 1904 and lived until the grand old age of 98, dying in 2002.
His grandfather was Jimmy Stammers, who was a dulcimer player, and maker, from Westhall in Suffolk and Oswald inherited one of the instruments he had made. Oswald’s father was William James Stammers, who followed his father into a job with the Great Eastern Railway. Oswald’s mother Emma was also from Westhall, but after marriage the pair moved to Essex, first near Chelmsford and by 1911 the family were in Colchester.
In 1928, Oswald married Marjorie Frost, a mariner’s daughter from Brightlingsea and soon afterwards they moved to somewhere in northeast Essex/Cambridgeshire borders, as their sons were born in Cambridge and Steeple Bumpstead (1931/33/40). By the 1960s when collector and dulcimer player Russell Wortley met Oswald, he was living in Saffron Walden.
There were several dulcimer players in the generation above Oswald: his father William James Stammers, his Uncle Harry and Aunt May all played the dulcimer – Oswald learned the ‘rippling’ technique from his father, who could also ‘chord’ it – play two harmonising notes at the same time.
His grandfather had made four family dulcimers, all to the same design, as well as a number of others. Oswald had inherited his dulcimer from an aunt: probably Aunt May (born Catherine Stammers 1889, married name Emmett). It is believed this dulcimer is still in the family.
From correspondence with Russell Wortley, it is clear that Oswald was certainly quite musically active in the local community in the 1960s.
It seems likely that one of his wife’s grandfathers had also played the dulcimer, in Brightlingsea on the Essex coast. See the main Essex Players page for further information.
There are just a couple of recordings of Oswald Stammers available.
Oswald Stammers was recorded by Russell Wortley in 1970, along with duets with his brother ‘Josie’ (probably Ronald, who had settled in Manningtree in south east Essex), playing a one string fiddle, also made by their grandfather Jimmy Stammers. These recordings are lodged in the British Library, and in the past it has been possible to listen to them on their website, but that is presently unavailable due to a cyber attack on the BL website. They play Summertime, Danny Boy, Drink to me Only with Thine Eyes, a hymn tune, the Sailor’s Hornpipe and a number of tunes unidentified in the catalogue.
Here is a sample of Oswald playing The Sailor’s Hornpipe. It’s from the album I Thought I was the Only One:
VTDC12CD ‘I thought I was the only one’ – Dulcimer playing in East Anglia
Archival recordings & a film of Billy Bennington (2015)
Oswald Stammers features on two tracks:
- Track: 27. Unidentified tune
- Track: 28. Sailors Hornpipe
The album was produced by John Howson on the Veteran label and is available as a physical album or downloads from the Veteran website. The Veteran label is under new management (2025) and the content is being transferred to the new system – if you can’t find the album online, just contact them directly.
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