Category: books

This is a free eBook in PDF format about (mostly) my research into the death of Thomas Anderson in 1752. Anderson was the subject of an article for the Shrewsbury Folk Club magazine by the late Ron Nurse, which was the starting point for a song of mine that I’ve written about several times since, notably in my book So Sound You Sleep. Eventually that chapter became a series of articles for my Substack (Un)Selective Symmetry, and is now a short book in its own right. It also includes as appendices a couple of later songs with a tenuous connection to Kingsland, where Anderson was executed.

Thomas Anderson eBook

Here’s the table of contents, just to give you the flavour.

Contents
Thomas Anderson………………………………………………1
Thomas Anderson…………………………………………..5
Thomas Anderson lyric ……………………………………7
Thomas Anderson Recording……………………………9
Historical Background……………………………………11
A Load of Cobblers (and Tanners and
Leatherworkers) ……………………………………….13
From the Guilds to the Flower Show ……………14
From House of Industry to Shrewsbury School
……………………………………………………………….18
The Arbour and the Old Show …………………….20
Death of a Rebel ……………………………………….25
Sources and References……………………………..30
Church Street and St. Alkmund’s…………………32
St Mary’s Church……………………………………….35
Admiral Benbow ……………………………………….35
Katherine Mary Harley……………………………….36
Robert Cadman…………………………………………38
Appendix 1: Black Velvet …………………………………..40
Appendix 2: from the Shropshire Gazetteer…………48
Appendix 3: Goose and Common ……………………….50
Goose And Common lyric ………………………………52
Another (later) version ………………………………….53
The Inclosure Acts…………………………………………54
Kingsland……………………………………………………..55
Harley’s Stone………………………………………………58
Goosed by The Commons………………………………61
Appendix 4: Jack in the Box ……………………………….63
Ida Gandy…………………………………………………….65
Lyric and Tune Links………………………………………66
A Bastille Soupçon ………………………………………..68
About David Harley…………………………………………..71