Roy Ernest Palmer was a singer, teacher, folklorist, author and historian who wrote more than 30 books on folklore and folk song. In 2003 he was awarded the Gold Badge, the English Folk Dance and Song Society's highest honour. He had much experience of performing to an audience, setting him apart from better known folk song scholars and anthologists who collected material but were less concerned with singing it.
Life
Born in 1932, Roy Palmer was educated at the Grammar School, Coalville, and at Manchester University. While at college he met Harry Boardman, a folk singer whose left-wing views he shared throughout his life. He taught for many years in grammar and comprehensive schools around the Midlands and was headmaster of the Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School in Birmingham for eleven years. In the 1960s he began recording and publishing traditional folk songs. A collection of his recordings are in the British Library and other materials are archived at the Library of Birmingham. He met the BBC producer Charles Parker whilst organising informal folk song evenings for CND in Birmingham during the 1960s. The two men joined with other local enthusiasts to establish the Birmingham and Midland Folk Centre in order to sing folk songs, appraise each other's singing, collect and research songs and produce documentary dramas. He took early retirement, making time to explore his deep passion in all aspects of folk culture - its lore, dialect, crafts, arts, plays and above all, its songs and music. From 1970 to 2007 he produced a steady stream of books, articles and reviews, exploring social history through the medium of folk song and street ballads. In 2003 was awarded a gold badge, the highest honour bestowed by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, and in 2004 he received an honorary MA from the Open University. He was a long-standing member of The Folklore Society, chairman of the 'Friends of the Dymock Poets' for seven years and on the editorial board of Folk Music Journal for 20 years.
