R.P. Weston

Robert Patrick Weston (1878 – 6 November 1936) was an English songwriter. He was born and died in London. Among other songs, he co-authored (with Bert Lee), "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm", a macabre little ditty about the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London, seeking revenge on Henry VIII for having her beheaded.

Weston's real name was Robert Harris, and he was born in Kingsbury Road, Islington, very close to Dalston Junction. His father ran a grocery shop and the family lived over it. Harris became a railway clerk (as listed in the 1911 census), but took up performing and song writing. At this time, he was living at 46 Hemmingford Road in Islington with his wife Maud. In 1915 in the offices of his music publisher, Francis, Day and Hunter, he met his future collaborator Bert Lee and they spent the next twenty years working together on songs, monologues, musicals and films. Some of their most durable work arose out their collaboration with Stanley Holloway. They also worked with Gracie Fields and the Crazy Gang. This collaboration was conducted in Weston's house in Twickenham until his death in 1936.

Towards the end of Robert's life, his son, Harris Weston (born Robert Edgar Harris) also collaborated with his father and Bert Lee and the three of them produced the song "Harmonica Dan" in 1936. After Robert's death, Harris continued the collaboration with Lee and produced "Knees Up Mother Brown" in 1938. Like his father, Harris had talent as an amateur artist and in December 1939 produced a painting showing a riotous party scene entitled "Knees Up Mother Brown". On the back of the painting Harris describes the scene as "The Costers' Party on the 100th Anniversary of Ma Brown". This indicates that this song must have been inspired by, or arose from, the costermonger community of London. Both Robert and Harris Weston drew inspiration from London's cockney culture for many of their songs, some of which were often sung in a cockney accent. These include Robert Weston's "What a Mouth", which was recorded as a pop song by Tommy Steele in 1960, and "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" (with Fred Murray), which became US pop chart number 1 for Herman's Hermits in the 1965. Robert Weston's paintings also reflect his London background and include a watercolour of Houndsditch Market painted in 1916.

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