Folk song collectors

Folk song collectors of Britain and Ireland on Folk Calendar: 52 of them, with their dates, where they were born and died, and their recordings. Every artist, A to Z

A

Tom Anderson 1910 to 1991 Fiddler, collector and teacher; Shetland
Arthur Argo 1935 to 1981 Singer, collector and broadcaster; north east song

B

Sabine Baring-Gould 1834 to 1924 Collector of Devon and Cornish song; Songs of the West
Janet Blunt 1859 to 1950 Folk song and morris collector; Adderbury
Breandán Breathnach 1912 to 1985 Piper and collector; Ceol Rince na hÉireann
Lucy Broadwood 1858 to 1929 Founder of the Folk-Song Society; English County Songs
Edward Bunting 1773 to 1843 Collector of Irish harp music; the Belfast Harp Festival
George Butterworth 1885 to 1916 Composer and collector of songs, tunes and dances

C

John Lorne Campbell 1906 to 1996 Gaelic scholar and field recordist; Canna
Clive Carey 1883 to 1968 Baritone and folk song collector
Nicholas Carolan Founding director; Irish Traditional Music Archive
James Madison Carpenter 1888 to 1983 Collector of British folk song and drama
© Daderot Public Domain Mark Francis James Child 1825 to 1896 Scholar; the English and Scottish Popular Ballads
© Tony 1212 CC BY 4.0 Shirley Collins Singer; Anthems in Eden, Lodestar
Bob Copper 1915 to 2004 Traditional singer and writer; the Copper Family

E

Séamus Ennis 1919 to 1982 Uilleann piper, collector and broadcaster; As I Roved Out

G

George Gardiner 1852 to 1910 Folk song collector; Hampshire
Anne Geddes Gilchrist 1863 to 1954 Collector of Lancashire song; Folk-Song Society editor
Martin Graebe Folk song researcher; Sabine Baring-Gould
Len Graham Traditional singer and song collector; Ulster
© Bain News Service, restored by Adam Cuerden and MyCatIsAChonk Public Domain Mark Percy Grainger 1882 to 1961 Composer and phonograph collector; Lincolnshire Posy
Gavin Greig 1856 to 1914 Collector; the Greig Duncan Folk Song Collection

H

Henry Hammond 1866 to 1910 Folk song collector; Dorset
Frank Harte 1933 to 2005 Singer and collector of Dublin street songs
© Own work Public Domain Mark Hamish Henderson 1919 to 2002 Poet and collector; School of Scottish Studies

K

Maud Karpeles 1885 to 1976 Collector; Cecil Sharp's collaborator
Douglas Kennedy 1893 to 1988 Director of the English Folk Dance and Song Society
Peter Kennedy 1922 to 2006 Collector and broadcaster; Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser 1857 to 1930 Collector and arranger; Songs of the Hebrides
© James Henry Hogg Public Domain Mark Frank Kidson 1855 to 1926 Leeds song scholar; Traditional Tunes

L

Ella Mary Leather 1874 to 1928 Folklore and folk song collector; Herefordshire
© Paul Hudson CC BY 2.0 Sam Lee Singer and song collector; The Nest Collective
A. L. Lloyd 1908 to 1982 Singer, writer and collector; Folk Song in England
© Unknown authorUnknown author Public Domain Mark Alan Lomax 1915 to 2002 Collector; recorded Britain and Ireland in the 1950s

M

© Abrach (talk) (Uploads)Public Domain Mark Calum Maclean 1915 to 1960 Gaelic folklore collector; School of Scottish Studies
Ciarán Mac Mathúna 1925 to 2009 Collector and broadcaster; Mo Cheol Thú
E. J. Moeran 1894 to 1950 Composer and folk song collector; Norfolk
Tom Munnelly 1944 to 2007 Collector of Irish traditional song

N

Mary Neal 1860 to 1944 Espérance Club; the early morris revival

O

Francis O’Neill 1848 to 1936 Collector of Irish dance music; Chicago police chief

P

Roy Palmer 1932 to 2015 Folk song historian and author
George Petrie 1790 to 1866 Antiquary and collector; the Petrie Collection
© David Loggan Public Domain Mark John Playford 1623 to 1686 Publisher of The English Dancing Master

R

© Rob enwiki CC BY-SA 4.0 Steve Roud Folklorist; the Roud Folk Song Index

S

Roy Saer 1936 to 2026 Collector and scholar of Welsh folk song; St Fagans
© Unknown authorUnknown author Public Domain Mark Cecil Sharp 1859 to 1924 Collector of English folk songs and dances
Margaret Fay Shaw 1903 to 2004 Collector of Gaelic song and lore; South Uist
Keith Summers 1948 to 2004 Field recordist; Suffolk; founder of Musical Traditions

T

Frances Tolmie 1840 to 1926 Collector of Gaelic song; Skye and the Western Isles

W

Alfred Williams 1877 to 1930 Poet and folk song collector; Upper Thames
Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872 to 1958 Composer and collector of English folk songs

Y

Mike Yates Folk song collector