Letterbook of Arthur Poyser, Master of the Lord Mayor's Players and Singers, founder of the Lord Mayor's Own 1st City of London B.P. Scouts, containing letters from a number of notable individuas, drawings, programmes, cuttings and other ephemera.

Author: 
Arthur Poyser, International Commissioner for Music, Master of the Lord Mayor's Players and Singers [the Boy Players], and founder in 1908 of the Lord Mayor's Own 1st City of London B.P. Scouts
Publication details: 
Dating from between 1904 and 1938.
£450.00
SKU: 23715

Poyser was the author of the first 'Official Song-book of the Scout Movement', 'The Scout Song Book' (1912). He published a history of the Tower of London in 1908, 'when I was Master of the Music of the Collegiate Church of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower, City of London'. For more information, see The Times, 3 August 1964 ('Roll of Honour for Scouts'). 125 items, including letters, programmes, drawings, postcards, invitations, newspaper and magazine cuttings, relating to the Boy Players and 1st City of London Scout Troop. Of the former Poyser writes, on the first page of the volume: 'At the suggestion of King George V they were revived by Arthur Poyser (in 1929, in the City of London) their Master: and Lord Howard de Walden became their High Warden. Then were, in 1928, presented to another Queen Elizabeth.' Laid down on 54 foolscap 8vo leaves, in sturdy brown 'Twinlock Crown Loose Leaf Binder'. In good condition, lightly-aged and worn, with a few loose leaves, and some items marked as 'Not Present'. The captions, in Poyser's autograph are informative, as the following indicates: 'When I was Organist and Choirmaster at Bordighera, Italy, on the Riviera Coast, we held our rehearsals at George Macdonald's house, Casa Coraggio. (Macdonald is the well-known Scottish author.) It was to these rehearsals that Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (of Glamis) came, as a member of my choir . Her father, the Earl of Strathmore, was one of our Churchwardens; and Elizabeth (his daughter) is now Queen of England.' The correspondence is mainly from clerics and theatrical figures, and includes Autograph Letters Signed from: Lord Howard de Walden (1880-1946), two letters, together with 3pp. (1p., 4to; 2pp., 12mo) of 'Pencil drawings by Lord Howard de Walden, High Warden of the London Boy Players, on back of an Agenda paper, made during a Council meeting!'; the actress Madge Kendal (1848-1935); Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, Director of the Royal Academy of Music ('a great personal friend of my Father's'); E. H. Redford, Reader of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain's Office; two from Sir William Soulsby (1851-1937), Private Secretary to the Lord Mayor of London; one each from Armitage Robinson (1858-1933), Dean of Wells, and his wife; Arthur W. Robinson, Canon of Canterbury Cathedral (two); William Edward Collins (1867-1911), Bishop of Gibraltar (eight letters and four cards; one letter, from 1909, describing his 'wonderful work of rescue, etc., amid the ruins of the earthquake-wrecked Messina and Reggio. Collins told me more of all this when I spent a day with him in London, later in the year'; James Beattie, President of the Educational Institute of Scotland (two letters and one card); Spencer Carpenter (1877-1959), Dean of Exeter; Kenneth Mackenzie (1863-1945), Bishop of Argyll and the Isles; Canon Hensley Henson (1863-1947); Sir Frederick Bridge (1844-1924), organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey; Irene Macdonald, with note by her husband the novelist George Macdonald; the journalist Hannen Swaffer ('Swaff') and his wife Helen; Francis Edward Carter, Dean of Grahamstown; the publicist Sydney Walton; William Foxley Norris (1859-1937), Dean of Westminster; Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941), Master of the King's Musick (two letters); Sir George Wyatt Truscott (1857-1941), Lord Mayor of London; Sir Charles Wakefield (1859-1941), Lord Mayor of London. Also Autograph Notes Signed by the novelist Rose Macaulay (1881-1958) and Professor Hastings Crossley. Also present are Typed Letters Signed from: Lilian Bayliss (1874-1937), two letters; Sir Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971); Sir Seymour Hicks (1871-1949); Sir Gerald du Maurier (1873-1934); the novelist Ernest Raymond (1888-1974); R. J. Streatfield, Private Secretary to the Queen (on Buckingham Palace letterhead). On 19 October 1922 A. Lascelles, Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, writes, regarding the future King Edward VIII: 'H. R. H. The Chief Scout for Wales has desired me to convey to you his warm appreciation of the musical programme carried out at the Boy Scouts Rally on October the 7th'. Other items include: an autograph account by Kenneth Seymour, addressed to Poyser and signed 'Ken Seymour', headed 'My Recollections of the Boy Players.' 3pp., 12mo. Poyser notes that 'Kenneth Seymour was the first Boy Player to enrol when the Players were revived (at the suggestion of King George V) in 1929. Seymour was then about fourteen years of age.' Other items include an offprint of a leading article on 'Boy Players', from the Daily Telegraph, 22 October 1928; the 'Final' Proof Galley' of a piece from the Era (reprinted from the Musical Standard) by Poyser titled 'Savoy Renaissance'; the signed and corrected typescript of a poem by Poyser titled 'In Rathbone Place'; two programmes from the Old Vic, both from 1934; two pencil drawings (both foolscap 8vo) of Boy Scouts, one depicting a large group watching a theatrical event; an issue of 'The Liveryman. A Journal published by the City Livery Club' (no.56, 20 December 1935), featuring a photograph of the Boy Players.