Herbert Hughes

Herbert Hughes grew up in Belfast and studied at the Royal College of Music, London, in 1901. He was a founder member of the Irish Folk Song Society of London which formed in 1903 and was co-editor of its Journal. From 1911 to 1932 he was the music critic of the Daily Telegraph. Hughes was an active folk-song collector and collected more than 1,000 melodies. Many of these able arrangements deserve high merits for their impressionist qualities. His most important volumes were the Irish Country Songs which appeared in 1909, 1915, 1934 and 1936.

In 1936 Hughes visited and collected songs in Iveragh. He was helped in his collecting by Fionán Mac Coluim. Below is an extract from his foreword to his book ‘Irish Country Songs Volume 1’.

The location of the notes and diaries that Herbert Hughes made whilst collecting in Iveragh have not been identified to date, and it is likely that they remain uncatalogued. Many enquiries have been made and leads followed only to meet dead ends so far.