Copper Family

The Copper family has lived in Rottingdean since the sixteenth century, where they have worked as farm bailiffs, publicans, policemen and occasionally as soldiers.

[3] The songs are thought to have been passed down for hundreds of years; George Copper, born in Rottingdean in 1784, was a celebrated singer in the village.

Vic Gammon notes in the leaflet accompanying the society's archive CD Come Write Me Down that both the collecting of songs and their unaccompanied singing were less common than is often imagined at this time and that Lee, a singer herself, knew she had found something special when she encountered the Coppers.

At the age of 87, Bob Copper travelled to New York to meet Pete Seeger, and a programme featuring their conversation, songs and views on their family traditions and on folk music in general was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2002.

[3] Various recordings of the family's singing have been made since the 1950s and some are still available, notably the aforementioned Come Write Me Down, which comes with two booklets full of biographical detail.

[6] In The Guardian obituary, Michael Grosvenor Myer wrote "Towards the end of his life, Bob frequently expressed the greatest satisfaction that the family's fine tradition was safe for at least the next two generations".

Bob Copper received the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society in 1978, an honorary degree from Sussex University in 2000, and an MBE four days before his death in 2004.