(b Pennygate, Barton Turf, Norfolk, 1885). English traditional singer and musician. Harry Cox's paternal grandfather and his father were noted singers in the community; his father also played the fiddle and Cox's mother sang. The seventh of 13 children, he left school at 13 years old to become a farm labourer. He worked, played music and sang with his father from whom he learnt most of his repertory; some of Cox's songs appear in his mother's collection of broadsides. During World War I he served in the Royal Navy. He married at the age of 40 years after which lived at Catfield Common, Norfolk.
Harry Cox performed traditional songs, played the fiddle, tin-whistle and melodeon, made dancing dolls and also step-danced. During the early 1920s he was ‘discovered’ by the composer and folksong collector e.j. Moeran. Some of his material was subsequently published in the Folk-Song Journal (1923). From the late 1940s until shortly before he died, he was recorded by numerous song collectors including E.J. Moeran, Francis Collinson, Peter Kennedy and Alan Lomax. He made occasional appearances on radio and television.
Harry Cox is one of the most famous English traditional singers noted for the outstanding quality of his performances, his sense of timing and extensive repertory. Since the 1960s he has had a steadfast influence on traditional music enthusiasts within the Folk Revival.
R. Hall: ‘Harry Fred Cox’, The Voice of the People, xvii: Ballads: It Fell on a Day, a Bonny Summer Day, Topic TSCD 667 (1999), 14–15 [disc notes]
The Voice of the People, i: Come Let Us Buy the Licence: Songs of Courtship and Marriage, various pfmrs, Topic TSCD 651 (1999)
The Voice of the People, ii: My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean: Songs of Tempest and Sea Battles, Sailor Lads and Fishermen, various pfmrs, Topic TSCD 652 (1999)
The Voice of the People, xii: We've Received Orders to Sail: Jackie Tar at Sea and On Shore, various pfmrs, TSCD 662 (1999)
REG HALL