“JOHN PEEL.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 27

“JOHN PEEL.”

FAMOUS SONG’S CENTENARY. It is just 100 years ago since John woodcock Graves wrote that most famous hunting song “D’ye Ken John Peel?” It must not be thought that tne song sprang immediately into universa! popularity, for, as a matter of fact, it had no great vogue until after Peel s death in 1854* From that time it flashed into prominence, and was soon being sung wherever foxhunters foregathered. In a few years, it was a wellknown song in popular favour with all manner of people. To-day, 100 years after it was composed, it is deservedly famous, and it so well known that almost every schoolboy can recite the words of the first verse, if not of the whole song. The original song differs slightly from the modern version, as so often sung. Nowadays we generally sing “D’ye ken John Peel .with his coat so gay?” whereas it should really be “ D’ye ken John Peel with his coat so gray?” Peel did not don the typical hunting pink or the red coat; instead, his jacket wa:j of homespun Cumberland wool, knpwn locally as “ hodden gfey,” and was very warm, practically waterproof, and very durable. Folk who remembered John Peel used to refer to his homely appearance. According to Mr Fothergill, Peel always wore a coat of “Skiddaw grey (a coarse woollen cloth manufactured at Caldbeck), a large box-hat, dark-colouredi, corduroy breeches, and a pair of hunting boots without tops, reaching high up the leg.” After Peel’s death, the late Mr Jackson GiUbanks composed some verses, one of which reads:— No broadcloth or scarlet adorned him, Or buckskins that rivalled the snow But of plain “ Skiddaw gray ” was his raiment, raiment, He wore it for work, not for show. SONG’S ORIGIN. . A century ago, in a “snug parlour” in the little Cumberland village of Caldbeck, the two old cronies, Peel and Graves, were “hobnobbing” together by the cheery fireside. Outside, flakes o‘f r?°Tii Were drsfti "g P&st the window. Doubtless they were vying with each other in recalling wondrous yarns of hunting, marvellous feats, hairbreadth escapes, and stories of great sport. And as they sat thus, there came into the room a fair-haired child to ask Graves the words of an old song; then and there he was struck with the sudden idea of putting hunting words to the tune in question. On the table lay writing materials, and shortly the world-famed Dyo Ken John Peel?” was written. ■ In Graves’s own words, written from Tasmania in 1833: “We had met one night to arrange about earth-stopping and. so forth. Large flakes of snow were falling. We sat by the fireside,'hunting over again many a good run, and recalling the feats of each particular hound, or narrow breakneck ’scape, when a flaxen-haired daughter of mine came in, saying. Father, what do they say to what granny sings?’ (Granny was singing to sleep my youngest son, with an old rant called • Bonnie Annie.’) The pen and ink for hunting appointments were on the table, and the idea of writing a song to this old air forced itself upon me, and thus was produced impromptu ‘ D’ye Ken John Peel? ’ “ Immediately afterwards I sang it to poor Peel, who smiled, and a tear or two ran down his manly check. ‘By Jove, Peel/ I said in jest, ‘ you’ll be sung of when we’re both run to earth/ ” Originally, the song was sung to the tune of “ Bonnie Annie,” but afterwards, the music was revised and arranged by Mr Metcalfe. To-day, It ranks as one of the immortals in, song, and carries a world-wide appreciation. Almost everybody knows the song 'and the tune, and, whether they know anything about hunting dr not, the stirring words never fail to set the eye sparkling and the foot taptapping. How heartily we all love to roar out the chorus! ’Twas the sound of his born brought i me from my bed, And the cry of his hounds has, me ofttimes led; • For Peel’s “ View ■ Halloa ” would waken the dead. Or a fox from his lair in the morning. • GRAVES’S CHEQUERED CAREER. The, author of this well-known song is, perhaps, rather eclipsed by the hero of whom-hd sings. John Woodcock Graves was a somewhat eccentric person, who had a chequered career. He was a great •out-of-doors man, loving to follow bounds across the fells. He was born at Wigton in 1795. Fatherless at seven, he received but a rough and ready education, and became a painter of signs for coaches, and afterwards had a leaning towards an artistic career. . Graves remained at Cockenpouth till he was 20. He became Peel’s boon companion, and his passion for sport was only outrivalled‘by his companion’s love *if hounds and hunting. The countryside round about rang with their exploits, and we can imagine, it was only sheer necessity which eventually drove Graves, from his beloved Cumberland to far-away Tasmania, where he landed n 1833, with, it is said, about ten pounds cash as capital. He visited both Australia and New Zealand, where he endeavoured to carry on his early traditions. Many a time in his latter; days must he have remembered his old-time boon companion. Peel, and the rattling good times they used to have a-hunting the hardy foxes of Cumberland. The hero of the song, John Peel, was a hardy Cumberland yeoman, who, on a limited income, managed to hunt his own pack of hounds, including the famous ‘ Ranter, Riugwood, and Bellman true ” of the song, and his “ fields ” were composed chiefly of neighbouring farmers and friends. In the season he hunted almost every day, and could be found afield at daybreak; he knew every inch of the country which he hunted. He lived for the sport. For nearly 50 years he hunted his pack. He died in 1854, ageu 78. And although it was Woodcock Graves who composed the famous song, yet, as Mr Machell says:—“ Without Peel there would have been no song, and the world would be the poorer without this melodious and enthusing piece of music.” —Arthur Sharp in the Weekly Scotsman,