Sam Henry

Samuel Henry (9 May 1878 – 23 May 1952) was an Irish customs officer, pension officer, antiquarian, lecturer, writer, photographer, folklorist, folk-song collector and musician.

He is best known for his collection of ballads and songs in Songs of the People, the largest and most comprehensive collection of just under 690 folk-songs from Northern Ireland assembled between the wars (1923–1939), when he was song editor for the Northern Constitution, a weekly newspaper in Coleraine.

Early life Henry was born and educated in Sandleford, Coleraine, Ireland. He came from a prominent Coleraine family and was the youngest of five sons: his brother William was town clerk of Coleraine; Robert, principal of the Model School; James, vice principal of The Honourable The Irish Society's Primary School; and Tom, a civil servant. In 1897, when he was 19, Sam passed two examinations, one as teacher and the other as an exciseman, choosing to follow the latter career.

Description According to his daughter, Mrs Olive Mary Henry Craig, Henry was a "very large man, tall, broad and burly" who weighed over sixteen stone (225 pounds, over 100 kilograms). who published just over 200 articles altogether (numbered 247-463), which therefore do not appear in Henry's scrapbooks. and tried to have his collection published in book form. To this end, he assembled two scrapbooks containing most of the material, edited and augmented by his notes of variations, plus other details and corrections of misprints. This material was in the form of cuttings, proof or typescript copies. and a conference address to the Library of Congress on 2 May 2007. The collection inspired recordings by folk singers such as Margaret Barry, Paul Brady, Eddie Butcher, Cara Dillon, Joe Heaney, Joe Holmes & Len Graham, Dolores Keane, Paddy Tunney, and many others. Andy Irvine, who first consulted the Dublin set in the mid-1960s, has interpreted an extensive selection of its songs since the early 1970s as a solo artist and with Planxty, Paul Brady, Patrick Street, and Mozaik.

In addition to his collection of songs, Henry left behind a large aggregate of 11,000 items, comprising photographs and documents, donated to the Coleraine Museum by his grandson, Gordon Craig, on 25 August 2011.

The Portstewart-based musician and researcher Grainne Milner-McLoone recorded and released an album of songs associated with her PhD, The Songs of Sam Henry (2022) under the name Grainne Eve.

A documentary in two episodes on Songs of the People was aired by the BBC, during April 2019.

Publications

Books by Sam Henry A Hank of Yarns (No date) Tales of the Antrim seaboard: Dunluce, Giant's Causeway, Fair Head (1930) Rowlock rhymes and Songs of exile (1933) Ulster folk tales: poetry, lore and tradition of the North-East (1939) Songs of the people: collected from traditional sources (3 vol. musical score) (1941?) The Story of St. Patrick's Church, Coleraine (1941?) Dunluce and the Giant’s Causeway (1945)

Books about Songs of the People

Selected discography The following table shows a selection of songs recorded from Henry's collection.

Title – the title of the song (this column is sortable) No. – the song's Henry number (Hxxx) (this column is sortable) Singer – the name of the singer on the recording (this column is sortable) Album – the title of the album featuring the recorded song (this column is sortable) Year – the year the album was released (this column is sortable) Notes – a reference about the song and/or its recording (this column is not sortable). Title No. Singer Album Year

"Blackwater Side" H811 Cara Dillon Wanderer 2017

"The Banks of the Foyle" H2 Cara Dillon Wanderer 2017