Sabine Baring-Gould
At the annual Meeting of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society in October 2018 it was decided that we would dissolve the society. The reasons for this are set out in a letter from the Chair, which you can read HERE.
The small group of former officers that managed the dissolution (Roger Bristow, Shan and Martin Graebe) made provision for this web-site to continue for (at least) five years. We will also deal with queries from members of the public and produce an occasional newsletter to keep former SBGAS members informed of matters of interest. Two such letters have now been produced, and you can download PDF versions of them to read via these links:
The SBGAS Newsletter or Transactions have not been published since 2018, but all the issues of both publications are now available on this website. They contain a wealth of information about many aspects of Baring-Gould’s life and work – please explore further.
In 2024 we will mark the centenary of Sabine Baring-Gould’s death and a number of events are being arranged during the year. We will publish a list of the planned events on this website early next year.
Sabine Baring-Gould (1834 – 1924)
Sabine Baring-Gould’s life is a story in itself, with his unconventional childhood, his marriage to a mill-girl half his age and his dedication to antiquarian pursuits alongside his life as squire and parson of a small Devonshire village. He was regarded as one of the top ten novelists of his time, but wrote prolifically on his travels, religious matters, historical figures and on many other topics. Over 1200 publications are listed in his bibliography.
He was an early archaeologist, respected for his work on Dartmoor, in Cornwall, in Wales and in France. He was also a folklorist, but he regarded his greatest achievement to be his collection of songs, most of them heard from singers in Devon and Cornwall. Beside his writing he re-created the twin hearts of his beloved parish of Lew Trenchard – his home, Lew House and the beautiful little church of St Peter, Lewtrenchard. For these he was his own architect.
At his death in 1924 he largely dropped out of the public’s memory and if he was remembered it would have been for his best known hymns such as ‘Onward, Christian soldiers’ and ‘Now the day is over’. In recent years members of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society, with the help of the descendants of his 15 children, have searched out forgotten manuscripts and letters which help to give a better picture of the life of this remarkable man. These were among the many sources of information that gave rise to the valuable material to be found in the Society’s Newsletters and Transactions.
[Checked and revised 26 Oct 23]