Alice E. Gillington was a pioneer collector of songs from English Gypsies and yet today she remains largely unknown. Although invited to join the Folk-Song Society, she never did so. This paper considers her collection and collecting methods, asks why Gillington remained apart from other collectors, and tries to discover why she chose to follow her own path.
The rosy musk-mellow blooms where the south wind blows, O my gypsy rose!
In the sweet dark lanes where thou and I must meet; So sweet!
From "The Rosy Musk Mellow; or, Romany Love Song', by Alice E. Gillington
ON 21 July 1907, Cecil Sharp, the leading English folk song collector of his day, wrote to his wife to tell her of an encounter with a Gypsy folk singer:
Talk of folk-singing! …
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