The Pic Nic. 1834.

 

All the three names -- author Bayly, musician Hodson and I presume this is Mr Williams of the London Theatres -- are well-known but I have yet to find a record of this comical musical monologue being performed. 

PS The subject, however, seems to have been a recurrent one ...

Samuel E[dward] Clark (b Redcar 25 January 1863) was 'the composer of the Chiff Chaff Waltz' (1890). He apparently came from Redcar ('Coatham House, Coatham'). He seems to have published locally in the early 20th century, an amount of occasional musicand was much puffed by the local Gazette. He died in October 1940, aged 77, at Redcar. Other than that, I know naught of him.

But I really fell for this one!

I would love to know what's inside. But what a smashing cover.  All I can make of the squiggle in the lower corner is ?H E pinxit. But the lithograph is credited to Concanen. 

So what is the date of this? And who was Mr F D Smither? And why is he 'respectfully inscribing' a three-shilling music sheet to the London, Brighton and Southcoast Railway's shareholders? Who published this .. did anyone play it ..?

This was not all that easy. There were three Mr F[rancis] D[earsley] Smitherses. Father (1814-1870), son (1848-1934) and grandson (1874-1931). And the family were almost all paperhangers and decorators. I went chasing father ... until I discovered that he had died in 1870. So, in the end, it came down to the son, and yes, he was a small-time pianist and music seller ('6 Devonshire Street, Chiswick'), sometime piano salesman, piano tutor, and 'solo pianist at Madame Tussaud's' ...

He seems to have put out the odd bit of music as 'Frank Smither' ('Derniers Rayons Gavotte', 'Sans Souci Quadrille' in 1870) and as 'F D Smither' ('The Break of Day Galop' 1869). Maybe this one comes from the same period.

And that is all I can find. For now.