Jock Troup and Duncan McNeill on RareTunes.org

Photo above � Jim Mayne, of Jock Troup leading a childrens mission, circa 1920.

Thanks again to Jim Mayne from Bangor for lending me some of his old 78 collection some weeks back. I have digitised these and cleaned up some of the crackle. These have now been incorporated into the Scottish music archive RareTunes.org.

Jock Troup 1896 - 1954 was a very famous evangelist of his generation and spent much time preaching in Ulster. He is only known to have ever recorded two songs - He Did Not Die In Vain and Unanswered Yet Beltona 1584. In 2002 George Mitchell wrote an excellent biography of Jock Troup entitled Revival Man - The Jock Troup Story. Recently, Sharon Wilkinson from North Carolina also sent me a biographical booklet that her father, a preaching colleague of Jocks called James Stewart, entitled Our Beloved Jock - Revival Days in Scotland and England - the Story of a Fisherman Revivalist.

Duncan McNeill / MNeill not sure of dates of birth or death was described as "Scotland's Sweetest Gospel Singer" and "The Scottish Skylark", and for a time was also pastor of Bridgeton Baptist Church in Glasgow. Among Jim's 78s were two by McNeill - "Thou Remainest" & "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" Beltona 1460 as well as "Don't Be Downhearted" & "The Gospel Ship" Beltona 1620. I am not sure if he spent any time on this side of the water - and information you might have about him would be appreciated.

With Jims permission all of these tracks have been sent to Stuart Eydmann who runs the website RareTunes.org, to add to his collection there. RareTunes is an excellent growing archive of rare Scottish recordings.

Troup and McNeill, along with others like Seth Sykes, Charlie Mayne, W.E. Tocher and many others were all Scottish preachers who made a big impact on Ulster in the early 20th century. Another great example is the Old Tent Evangel which was founded in 1922 and moved around different areas of East Belfast - it was nicknamed The Cloot Kirk the Cloth Church. In addition to their spiritual legacy they also left a collection of songs, hymns and childrens choruses, some of which used Scots language words and expressions. Perhaps the close relationship of the Belfast and Glasgow shipyards was a factor, but these are all evangelical evidences of how Scots speech was once a frequent feature of the working class life of Belfast.

NB - you can hear the Troup and McNeill recordings here, in the column on the right entitled Latest Recordings. An excellent history of the halls and missions of Belfast is Belfasts Halls of Faith and Fame by Victor Maxwell Ambassador 1999

http://bit.ly/910aFX

via Ping.fm

Posted via email from Kilsally's posterous