Benjamin Francis Lye

[Brock]

Benjamin Francis Lye was born in 1814 in St Pancras & he became a musician constantly travelling the country. His son John also became a travelling musician too.
Unfortunately, this is all that I know of Benjamin Lye & I wondered if anyone might be able to point me in the right direction so that I can find out exactly where his musical talents lay. His census entries only state "musician" but I would love to know what instrument he played or if he was part of a band etc.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

[gasser]

Not much to go on......but he and his son John are mentioned in the ETMA (English Traditional Music Archive) database (p.17 on the name index) http://www.etma.org.uk/musiciandownload.html
There is a contact name on site....might/might not help!

[Brock]

Thank you so much.

[christanel]

Hi
This site is interesting reading with links to other sites.

http://www.genguide.co.uk/source/actors-amp-entertainer-records-occupations/157/

Christina

[Brock]

That's great ~ thank you so much.

[Ladkyis]

You could also try this http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ it is a pay per view site but you can search freely and you can see if there are any hits for the name before you decide whether to pay. They have an awful lot of editions of The Era which was the tradepaper for the theatrical world and it was there that actors and musicians advertised their skills and touted for work. There were also many advertisements of shows that were being performed all over the country. I think The BNA is an absolute must-have subscription for anyone researching theatrical ancestors of any kind.
It is an ongoing database too in that more and more local and national papers are continually being added so If you don't find them this week you simply look again in a month or two and see all the lovely new stuff

[Brock]

Brilliant, thank you.