Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. Baring-Gould Sabine

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      Sabine Baring-Gould

      Reverend Sabine Baring Gould was born on 28th January 1834, in the parish of St. Sidwell, Exeter, England. He is remembered as a priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar – and his bibliography consists of more than 1240 publications. Baring-Gould is perhaps most famous for his hymns however, the best-known being ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ and ‘Now the Day is Over.’

      The eldest son of Edward Baring-Gould and his first wife, Sophia Charlotte (née Bond), Sabine was named after a great-uncle, the Arctic explorer Sir Edward Sabine. Because the family spent much of his childhood travelling round Europe, most of his education was by private tutors. He only spent about two years in formal schooling, first at King’s College School, London and then, for a few months at Warwick Grammar School. It was during his time at Warwick that Baring-Gould contracted a bronchial disease, of the kind that was to plague him throughout his life.

      In 1852, Baring-Gould was admitted to Cambridge University, earning the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1857, them Master of Arts in 1860 from Clare College, Cambridge. Shortly afterwards, he became the curate (assistant to the Parish Priest) at Horbury Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire, and later relocated to become perpetual curate at Dalton, near Thirsk. Baring-Gould married Grace Taylor, the daughter of a millhand and thus of much lower social status, in 1868. The couple enjoyed a very happy marriage however, and had fifteen children, all but one of whom lived to adulthood. The pairing lasted until Grace’s death forty-eight years later, and when he buried his wife in 1916, Baring-Gould had carved on her tombstone the Latin motto, Dimidium Animae Meae (‘Half my Soul’).

      Baring-Gould became the rector of East Mersea in Essex in 1871, where he spent ten years, thereafter filling his father’s place at the family estates of Lew Trenchard in Devon – as the parson of the parish. Here, Baring-Gould lived at the beautiful family manor, which has been preserved to this day. It was during this time that Baring-Gould was really able to focus his attention on folksongs, that he mostly made and collected with the help of the ordinary people of Devon and Cornwall. His first book of songs; Songs and Ballads of the West (1889–91), was published in four parts between 1889 and 1891. The musical editor for this collection was Henry Fleetwood Sheppard, though some of the songs included were noted by Baring-Gould’s other collaborator Frederick Bussell. Baring-Gould and Sheppard produced a second collection named A Garland of Country Songs during 1895.

      Baring-Gould also collaborated with another folk song collector, Cecil Sharp, with whom he published English Folk Songs for Schools in 1907. This collection of fifty-three songs was widely used in British schools for the next sixty years. Although he had to modify the words of some songs which were too rude for the time, he left his original manuscripts for future students of folk song, thereby preserving many beautiful pieces of music and their lyrics. Baring-Gould was also a prolific writer himself, penning The Broom-Squire set, in the Devil’s Punch Bowl (1896), Mehalah and Guavas; The Tinner (1897), a collection of ghost stories, and a sixteen-volume The Lives of Saints. His folkloric studies resulted in The Book of Were-Wolves (1865), one of the most frequently cited works of lycanthropy (the study of Werewolves).

      Baring-Gould died on 2nd January 1924, at his home in Lew Trenchard, and was buried next to his beloved wife, Grace. He wrote two volumes of reminiscences: Early Reminiscences, 1834-1864 and Further Reminiscences, 1864-1894.