Herbert Hughes (1882 – 1937) grew up in Belfast and completed his studies with Charles Wood at the Royal College of Music, London, in 1901. Together with his brother he collected, transcribed and arranged irish folksongs, much like the Grimm brothers did with german fairy tales. Over the years, Hughes collected over 1,000 melodies.
Many of the arrangements have great impressionist qualities. His most important volumes were the Irish Country Songs which appeared in 1909, 1915, 1934 and 1936 (Down by the Sally gardens, anyone?).
In 1903, he was a founder member of the Irish Folk Song Society of London and co-editor of its Journal. From 1911 to 1932 he was the music critic of the Daily Telegraph.
BTW – If you happen to have a picture of Herbert laying around…please send it to us 🙂