I have seen some discussion on Facebook about the fact that 17th December this year is the 65th anniversary of the death of Dorothy L Sayers, author of the classic bellringing-themed mystery "The Nine Tailors". Some people might be planning commemorative ringing. 17th December is a Saturday and the Albany Quadrant calendar seems to be empty, so I started wondering about organising something, on handbells of course.
I remembered that sections of "The Nine Tailors" are introduced by compositions, so I looked to see whether there's anything suitable. Commemorative ringing wouldn't have to be a peal, of course, but just supposing we wanted to ring a peal, the only peal compositions in the book are Holt's 10-part of Grandsire Triples, and 5376 Kent Major by J. Wilde.
The composition of Kent is set out in the following unusual way.
A FULL PEAL OF KENT TREBLE BOB MAJOR
(Three Parts)
5,376
By the Course Ends
6 5 4 3 2
3 4 5 6 2
2 3 6 4 5
3 5 6 4 2
4 2 3 5 6
8th the Observation.
Call her before, middle with a double, wrong with a double and home; wrong with a double and home with a double; middle with a double, wrong and home with a double; before, middle with a double, wrong and home with a double; before, middle with a double and wrong with a double. Twice repeated.
(J. WILDE)
Interpreting the text in the obvious way gives this calling:
M B W H
----------
-
2 2 1
2 2
2 1 2
-
2 1 2
-
2 2
----------
but this doesn't work. It's too many courses, and the first course end would be 35264 instead of 65432.
Something made me think that perhaps the befores shouldn't be in courses by themselves, but instead combined with the course afterwards. That gives a shorter calling:
M B W H 23456
-----------------
2 - 2 1 65432
2 2 34562
2 1 2 23645
2 - 1 2 35642
2 - 2 46253
-----------------
which is closer, but still doesn't work. However, removing the two middles from the last course gives something sensible:
5376 Kent Treble Bob Major
J. Wilde
M B W H 23456
-----------------
2 - 2 1 65432
2 2 34562
2 1 2 23645
2 - 1 2 35624
- 2 42356
-----------------
3 part.
I couldn't find this composition in any online sources, but I did find other compositions by a James S. Wilde, who might be the same person.
It's well known that Dorothy Sayers obtained most of her information about ringing from the book "Change Ringing" by Charles Troyte. I consulted Troyte and found three peal compositions of Kent Major, including this one, in an appendix. They are all set out in a tabular format with the columns for Before and Middle swapped:
B M W H 23456
-----------------
- 2 2 1 65432
2 2 34562
2 1 2 23645
- 2 1 2 35624
- 2 42356
-----------------
That explains the reversal of the order of Before and Middle in the textual description in "The Nine Tailors", but not the extra two middles. Also, Troyte doesn't attribute the composition to J. Wilde, so Dorothy Sayers must have had some other source for it.
I wondered whether ringers had noted this anomaly before, so I looked up the Ringing World for 1934, the year of publication of "The Nine Tailors". Not surprisingly, there were editorials and letters about the novel and its popularity. On the whole it was thought to be good publicity for ringing. Dorothy Sayers became quite a celebrity in ringing circles, and was elected as an honorary member of several societies, including the Oxford University Society, the Ladies' Guild, and the College Youths. She was also invited to a number of ringing events, on one occasion astonishing the assembled company by ringing the treble (just one bell) to an extent of Grandsire Doubles on handbells.
I didn't find any letters about the error in the composition of Kent, despite searching all the way up to 1970 which is the latest Ringing World that I've transferred from the DVDs onto my computer. Also, I didn't find any comment on her death in 1957. I did, however, find the following peal report, acknowledging that the composition had to be tweaked.
Oxford University Society
DRAYTON, Berks, St Peter
Saturday 7 June, 1958, 2h52 (9 cwt)
5376 Kent Treble Bob Major
Comp: J Wilde
1. Donald H Niblett
2. Richard A Jackson
3. D Roy Stoddard
4. Jeremy A Salter
5. Nigel J Maggs
6. Dermot J Roaf
7. Glyn F Jenkins
8. Robin N Pittman (C)
First peal of Kent Treble Bob Major: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. First peal as conductor on eight bells. In memoriam Dorothy L Sayers, honorary member of this Society. The composition of this peal was adapted from one of those in Miss Sayers' book, "The Nine Tailors".