William James Stammers (1874-1948)
His father James (Jimmy) Stammers was also a dulcimer player and built at least four dulcimers for his family and more for other people.
William was born in 1874, in Newcastle-on-Tyne, although the family only seem to have had a brief stay in the area, as his father was from Westhall, near Beccles in Suffolk, and they soon moved back to that area, where his father worked for the railways. William also went on to work for the Great Eastern Railway, and after marriage in 1901, he and his family moved to Essex, where he stayed for the rest of his life, living in or near Colchester until moving to Thorington as station master, where he died, after retirement, in 1948.
According to his son Oswald Stammers he could both ‘ripple’ and ‘chord’ tunes, and both techniques were still evident in Oswald’s playing in 1970. He apparently did the ‘artistic bits’ on the family dulcimers made by his father, Jimmy Stammers.
Two of William’s younger siblings – Harry (b 1881) and May (born Catherine, 1889) are also known to have played.
His son Oswald inherited one of the family dulcimers and was recorded by Russell Wortley in 1970.
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