Emma Overd
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Emma Overd
| image = Emma Overd by Cecil Sharp according to Getty images who claim copyright (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = by Cecil Sharp
| birth_name = Emma Weaver
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1838|10|10}}
| birth_place = Langport, Somerset
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1928|6|21|1838|10|10}}
| death_place = Langport, Somerset
| death_cause =
| other_names =
| known_for = Source of folk songs
| education =
| employer =
| occupation = Agricultural labourer
| spouse = William Overd
| children = Nine
| parents =
| relatives =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
| nationality =
}}
Emma Overd ({{nee|Weaver}}; 10 October 1838 – 21 June 1928) was an English folk-singer from Somerset.
Life
Overd was born in Langport, Somerset in 1838. Her parents were Charles and Elizabeth (née Suttiett) Weaver. She was brought up by her father's mother as her own mother died when she was young.{{Cite ODNB|title=Overd, Emma (1838–1928), folk-singer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-74829|access-date=2020-09-17|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/74829}} She worked in agriculture from a child including stripping willow saplings. The wood could be used for basket work.
She was a keen singer who would entertain drinkers with local songs. She came to the notice of Cecil Sharp in 1904 who heard of her skill at folk singing.{{Cite web|title=Overd, Emma - Cecil Sharps People|url=https://cecilsharpspeople.org.uk/emma-overd.html|access-date=2020-09-17|website=cecilsharpspeople.org.uk}} Sharp had already met local singers Lucy White and Louie Hooper.{{Cite ODNB|title=White, Lucy Anna (1848–1923), folk-singer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-74830|access-date=2020-09-25|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/74830}} Sharp was Principal of the Hampstead Conservatoire of Music. Overd met Cecil Sharp and is reputed to have said Lor, girls, here's my beau come at last! in reply to his interest. Sharp enthused about her singing and transcribed many of her songs.
File:Six Pretty Maidens in 1904 from Emma Overd by Cecil Sharp.jpg{{Cite web|title=EmmaOverd Search|url=https://www.vwml.org/search?q=emma%20overd&is=1|access-date=2020-09-27|website=www.vwml.org}}]]
Sharp's income was derived after 1905 largely from lecturing and publishing folk music.{{cite web|url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36040 |title= Sharp, Cecil James |last=Heaney |first=Michael |year=2004 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press}} Overd's songs Bruton Town, Wraggle-Taggle Gipsies, Sweet Kitty and Geordie were included in the first volume of Sharp's and Marson's Folk Songs from Somerset which was published in 1905.{{Cite book|last1=Sharp|first1=Cecil J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLbxvgEACAAJ&q=Sharp's+Folk+Songs+from+Somerset|title=Folk Songs from Somerset|last2=Marson|first2=Charles L.|date=1905|publisher=Simpkin ; Schott|language=en}} Her songs The Crabfish, Briery Bush and New Year's Song were in his later volumes. Sharpand Overd met five times over the next eleven years and Overd introduced him to other folk singers she knew.
After 1909 she was given an old age pension which allowed her to buy a beer each week at Langport's Railway Hotel where she would frequently sing.
Private life
She married William Overd on 25 February 1860 and they had nine children although three did not survive childhood. They lived around Langport. William died in 1914. Overd died a widow in Langport in 1928 and she was buried in Curry Rivel but the precise location is unknown.