Cross, Bob

Gender: Male

Gwilym Davies visited Tony Ballinger and Bob Cross of Witcombe at the Brockworth House Club and Institute on 15 September 1977 when Bob Cross sang Green Lived Upon The Green, There Were Three Crows and The Young Sailor Cut Down In His Prime. He later recorded Bob Cross at his home in Witcombe on 1 March 1988 when he sang these songs again in better recording conditions. Bob Cross also knew fragments of several songs which were nearer the knuckle.

Bob Cross was a businessman who lived in fine old cottage in Witcombe. His family history is not clear but he may have been the Robert William Cross, a coal merchant of The Cleeves, Elmbridge Road, Gloucester, who was born in about 1911, married Verlie Horsham in Gloucester in 1934 and died in 1998 in the Gloucester registration district. This Robert Cross’ father was Sidney Cross, superintendant of an insurance company born in Gloucester in 1894. Sidney’s father was William Cross, a boiler maker who came from Stratton St Margaret, Swindon.

Notes by Carol Davies June 2015