Lucy White

Lucy Anna White (4 September 1848 – 17 February 1923) was a British folk-singer from Somerset. She was an early source of songs for the folk song collector Cecil Sharp and she is said to have shaped his interests. Her half-sister was another singer named Louie Hooper (1860-1946) (born Louisa England). Life White was born in Puckington in Somerset in 1848. Her mother was Sarah Bridge who taught her many songs. When she was about thirteen her mother married William England in 1855. She grew up in a family of six children including her half-sister Louie was born in 1860. She sometimes used the name Lucy England. Louie was unable to walk but they both worked with others involved in glove and shirt-making. White was working on collars at the age of ten. She married Jonathon White in 1875 and Louie married George Hooper in 1884. Between 1875 and 1884 she had eight children although two were illegitimate. Louie had three children after her marriage to George Hooper even though he had died soon after they married. In the 1890s Louie and Lucy were living next door to each other in Westport. She came to notice because Charles Marson came as the vicar to her village. He was a socialist, an enthusiast for his parishioners and a bane to the church authorities. His friend Cecil Sharp was a music teacher as he was Principal of the Hampstead Conservatoire of Music. In 1903 Sharp came to visit Marson in Somerset and Sharp started to collect songs.