Tommy Armstrong

Early life Tommy Armstrong was born at 17 Wood Street in Shotley Bridge on 15 August 1848. and by his eldest son (East Tanfield Colliery, aged nine). Official records show him employed at Addison Colliery in 1866, first as a putter, and then as a hewer. According to his younger brother, he then worked at East Tanfield Colliery

He lived for the most part in Tanfield Lea, though from 1902, for a few years, he moved to Whitley Bay to start and run a business as a newsagent. In 1906, he had an address in Ouston. In 1911, he was living with his widowed eldest child, Mary, and her children in Tanfield Lea; his second wife resided in Chester-le-Street with another daughter from his first marriage. The sociologist Huw Beynon states that what makes Armstrong stand out from other coalfield songwriters is his "impish irreverence" and "imaginative devilishness", with "nothing cloying or sentimental" in his descriptions of mining life, while the folklorist A. L. Lloyd, according to Beynon, thought Armstrong wrote "as a herald of the dawn, who welcomes the day with a cock crow". The folklorist Roy Palmer noted the playfulness, sympathy, and humour in his works. As Armstrong himself put it:

Folk-songs and the musical forms associated with music hall performances both influenced Armstrong's compositions. The stage was most strongly reflected in the lyrics, and the folk-song influence most clearly evident in the melodies he directed his songs be sung tohe rarely wrote his own tunes, and in most cases made up the words with an existing one in mind: many were urbanised versions of folk melodies. In particular, Armstrong loved and was influenced by the Irish ballads that were popular amongst coal-miners in the second half of the nineteenth century, especially the genre dubbed "Come-all-ye": these were usually written in lines of 14 syllables, with tunes in time, and often in the Dorian or Mixolydian mode.

Examples of compositions Domestic songs Poem quote It wes in Novimber an' aw nivor will fergit, The polis an' the candymen at Oakey's hooses met. Johnny the bellmin he wes theor, squintin roond aboot, An' he pleaced three min at iv'ry door te torn the pitmin oot.

What wid aw de, if aw'd the poower mesel'? Aw'd hang the twinty candymen an' Johnny that carries the bell! — Tommy Armstrong (1885) title=The Oakey Strike evictions (first verse and chorus) The version of the first verse below was collected and transcribed by A. L. Lloyd in Tanfield in August 1951. and sang it, within days of the disaster, at the local Mechanics' Hall. A. L. Lloyd collected and transcribed a version of the first verse below, noting "As sung (one verse only) by R. Sewell of Newcastle (June 1951)".

Patter Some of Armstrong's works incorporate patter"passages of prose ... to be spoken in between the verses and chorus, both of which are meant to be sung."

Armstrong wrote one song, Th' Skeul Bord Man, in the form of a short play featuring the voices of a father, mother, son, and an inspector from the son's school: the most widespread form of literature consumed by the working class at the time.

Subsequently, the Song Book, a collection of 25 songs compiled by his son William, was produced in three editions: the first appeared during Armstrong's lifetime (1909, priced at three pence), the second, a decade after his death (1930, three pence),

Tommy Armstrong Sings, a facsimile of the Song Book with added line illustrations, appeared in 1971: this was produced by a local publisher during a surge of interest in printed versions of Tyneside songs and tunes in the wake of the second British folk revival. A Complete Works containing 29 songs (many with tunes) followed in 1987, published by the Tommy Armstrong Memorial Trust. In the preface, the Trust stated it had been founded (in 1986) "with the aim of restoring the Tanfield Pitman's Poet to his rightful place in the history and culture of the North East", and declared that Armstrong's output "reflects the hardship and humour of West Durham mining life during the last century and the early part of this one."

Recordings From 1962 onwards, "The Trimdon Grange Explosion" was recorded by many artists in studio albums and compilations, including the 1993 version of The Iron Muse.

In 1965, Topic Records released Tommy Armstrong Of Tyneside, an LP with 14 of his songs, with an insert containing a biography and notes by A. L. Lloyd. A CD version was released in 1997. Reviewing the original release, The Gramophone's critic considered the album "beautifully done, with gusto, understanding and musical ability" and "a well recorded, well documented selection of songs" with "some excellent singing by Johnny Handle, Louis Killen and Maureen Craik."

No recordings of Armstrong himself are known.

Memorials Stanley Town Council unveiled a plaque commemorating Tommy Armstrong at Tanfield Church on 11 June 2016. Part of the ceremony was held next to Tommy Armstrong's two memorial headstones: the original, and one dedicated in 1986.

Selected songs