Cecil james sharp biography examples

British musicologist Cecil Sharp (1859-1924) made an invaluable contribution to the history of folk music in his travels through Appalachia during World War I. On these expeditions, Sharp extensively documented the folk ballads of the region, which had been brought over as far back as the 1770s from the British Isles by the ancestors of the Appalachian Mountain residents.

In their original form, some of these songs dated back to the late medieval period of English, Scottish, and Irish folk music.

Sharp was born in London on November 22, 1859, and grew up in the Denmark Hill area of South London.

His father was a slate merchant, and Sharp's love of music was apparently inherited from his mother, Jane Bloyd Sharp. He spent several years at the Uppingham School in Rutland, England, but left at age 15 in order to begin private tutoring in preparation for college.

He was a member of the rowing team at Clare College of Cambridge University, where he earned his degree in