Letter and Manuscript

Following the recent comment regarding the ‘Song of Canvey’ and it’s origin I have been searching my PC and house for everything I have relating to the manuscript. After fourteen years and several PCs it has not been easy. I would swear the manuscript is here somewhere but following a recent sort out I have not had any luck finding it. I will keep looking. I had better luck on the PC. Found two of the three pages from the manuscript plus the letter giving us the provenance. The manuscript was given to Rev Brown by the author of the song which we now know must have been on or about 1909. His daughter Gertrude passed it to Mrs Bonsor in 1967. In 2009 it was passed/lent to us by her son. At the time we were given misleading information and as we could not confirm or deny what we were told we took it no further other than recording it on our website.

Now after another four years the mystery has been solved and some info on the manuscript confirms the 1909 event. Although not directly a Canvey event two of the five acts were regarding Canvey plus the connection with Rev Brown, his daughter and the Bonsor family make it part of Canvey’s history.

I have also found several newspaper articles regarding the event that is likely to give us more details. I shall continue to look to see if I actually have the whole manuscript here and update this page if necessary.