Samuel James Larner (18 October 1878[1] – 11 September 1965)[2] was an English fisherman and traditional singer from Winterton-on-Sea, a fishing village in Norfolk, England.
Fishing was an almost inevitable occupation for one of nine children of a fisherman father growing up in a village with a population of 800 people, 300 of whom were fishermen.
As a fisherman he learned the songs fellow crew members sang pulling in the nets as well as in singing sessions in pubs in fishing ports the length of Britain.
He left fishing due to ill health in 1933, and spent some time unemployed as well as doing whatever jobs he could find, including road mending and forestry.
[6] Some were old ballads such as "Henry Martin" ("The Lofty Tall Ship"),[8] "Barbara Allen",[9] "The Outlandish Knight",[10] "The Jolly Beggar"[11] and "Clear Away the Morning Dew".
The ruder they were the quicker I picked 'em up.As well as traditional songs, Larner knew sea rhymes and old pieces of fishing lore, and was a noted step dancer.
Donellan brought him to the attention of Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker who were engaged in producing the first of the innovatory radio ballads which used songs, sound effects and music combined with the voices of people involved in an industry or common experience.
MacColl's song "The Shoals of Herring", which describes a fisherman's progress from cabin boy to deckhand, largely based on Larner's life, was written for the programme.
[14] The folk singer Martin Carthy, who influenced Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel with his music, became a musician after being inspired by Larner's singing at a concert in London in the mid-1950s.