Edward Corvan

Edward "Ned" Corvan (ca. 1830 – 1865) was a Tyneside concert hall song writer and performer, and a contemporary of George "Geordie" Ridley.^[1] His songs were printed in a modified English orthography designed to represent the traditional dialect of Tyneside in the middle of the 19th century, and are examples of Dialect Literature.^[2]

Biography

Corvan was born in Liverpool some time around 1830, but his family moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne when he was four years old. His father died three years later.

Works

Corvan's songs were published in four Song Books, a collection called Random Rhymes, in various Broadsides, and in editions of Allan's Tyneside Songs.^[3]

Random Rhymes (1850)

• The Queen's Second Visit
• Billy Purvis turned Ranter Preacher
• The Curds and Cream-house Ghost^[4]
• He wad be a Noodle
• Yer Gannin to be a Keelman
• The Happy Keelman
• The rise in Baccy
• The Shades Saloon
• The Goose Club
• Bella Gray - A Parody on Rosa Lee
• O, maw bonnie Nannie O
• Parody on She Wore a Wreath of Roses
• Sweating System
• Tom Johnson
• Campbell's grand Saloon, North Shields
• The Folks of Aud Shields
• The New Mayor of South Shields
• South Shields Corporation
• Blyth in a Breeze

Broadsides (1850–1865)

• Warkworth Feast
• Toon Improvement Bill; or, Nee Pleyce Noo to Play
• The Sandgate Lass
• The Rise in Coals
• The Pitman and the Kippered Herrin'
• The Keel on Fire
• The Stage Struck Keelman
• Bella Gray
• Astrilly's Goold Fields; or, Tommy Carr's Letter
• The Unfortunate Man
• The Factory Lass or Pally Jones
• Swaggering at the Races
• He Wad Be a Noodle
• Trip to Marsden Rock
• Maw Stepmother or, Billy Bag the Glutton
• Days When I was Hard Up
• Hairy Gobs! an' Fine Moosecatchers!
• The Queen's Second Visit, or, The Openin' o' wor Greet Central Station
• Prince Alberts' Babby Hoose, or The Greet Exhibition of 1851
• The Cullercoats Fishwife
• £4. 10s. or, the Sailors' Strike
• The Funny Time Comin'

Corvan's Song Books (1857–1866)

Corvan's Song Book No. 1

• Swaggering at the Races
• The Keel on Fire
• The Rise in Coals
• Astrilly, or The Pitman's Farewell
• Nee Pleyce noo to Play
• The Pitman and the Kippered Herrin
• Warkworth Feast
• Astrilly's Goold Fields, or Tommy Carr's Letter
• The Unfortunate Man
• The Sandgate Lass
• Pally Jones the Factory Lass

Corvan's Song Book No. 2

• He wad be a Noodle
• Maw Step-Mother; or, Billy Bags the Glutton
• Days when I was Hard Up
• Tommy Carr's Adventures in Astrilly
• Deeth o' Billy Purvis
• Stage Struck Keelman
• Lads o' Tyneside
• Hairy Gobs an' fine Moosecatchers
• Trip to Marsden Rock
• Gallowgate Hoppin'

Corvan's Song Book No. 3

• Bella Gray
• The Queen's Second Visit
• Prince Albert's Babby Hoose; or, the Greet Exhibition of 1851
• Cullercoats Fish Wife
• Peep at Newcassel
• Widow Winks
• Snooks, the Artist
• O, ha'e ye seen wor Jimmy

Corvan's Song Book No. 4

• Newcassel Pluck, or Recruitin' for Delhi
• Soup Kitchen
• Gossipin' Nan Todds
• Perils of the Mine, or Collier's Death
• Sunday Mornin's Fuddle - a parody
• Work for One Thousand Men
• Jimmy Munro's Troubles
• Pea Straw
• Tom Sayers
• Bobby Walker's Visit to the Leviathan
• Our Mary Ann - a parody
• Sword Dancers' Lament

In Allan's Tyneside Songs

• The Caller
• He Wad Be a Noodle
• The Toon Improvement Bill, or, Ne Pleyce Noo te Play
• The Rise in Coals
• Astrilly; or, The Pitman's Farewell
• Astrilly's Goold Fields; or, Tommy Carr's Letter
• Tommy Carr's Adventures in Astrilly
• The Cullercoats Fish-lass
• Bobby the Boxer
• Warkworth Feast
• The Kipper'd Herrin'
• Deeth o' Billy Purvis
• The Greet Bull-dog o' Shields
• The Fishermen Hung the Monkey, O!
• The Comet; or, The Skipper's Fright
• The Fire on the Kee
• Chambers and White
• The Deeth o' Cuckoo Jack
• Wor Tyneside Champions
• The Queen Has Sent a Letter; or, The Hartley Calamity
• The Queen's Visit to Cherbourg
• Stage-struck Keelman
• The Soop Kithcin
• The High Level and the Aud Bridge
• Cat-gut Jim, The Fiddler
• (The Curds-and-Cream House Ghost)^[5]

Other

• Mally's Dream^[6]
• Tyne Lads For Ever!^[7]
• Jimmy McKenny^[8]

Corvan's Dialect

Almost all of Corvan's works are examples of Dialect Literature, representing the traditional dialect of Tyneside (known as Geordie) in the mid-19th century.

References

1. ^ Allan, T. (1972) Tyneside Songs, ed. David Harker, pp. 387–94. Newcastle: Frank Graham (Orig. published 1862).
2. ^ Wales, K. (2006) Northern English: a Social and Cultural History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Beal, J. (2002) "From Geordie Ridley to Viz: popular literature in Tyneside English". Language and Literature 9, 343-359.
3. ^ Harker, D. (1984) Review of Corvan: A Victorian Entertainer and His Songs by Keith Gregson. Popular Music, Vol. 4, Performers and Audiences, pp. 344–345. Cambridge University Press.
4. ^ Interestingly, Allan's Tyneside Songs ascribes this song to Robert Emery
5. ^ See Note 4
6. ^ The Songs of the Tyne: Being a Collection of Popular Local Songs, No.10 (c.1846)
7. ^ Selkirk's collection of songs and ballads for the people, original and select (1853)
8. ^ Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 20th November, 1880

External links

• http://www.asaplive.com/archive/browse_by_collection.asp FARNE - Folk Archive Resource North East

Persondata
Name	Corvan, Edward
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	1865
Place of death