My question specifically arises from the film, 1917, in which a British soldier in World War I sings the American folk hymn, "Poor Wayfaring Stranger." How likely is it that British people would have known this song at the time?
O, this is my kind of rabbit hole! I saw this question this morning and thought if nobody else answered it, I would take a stab!
Have not seen this film, but I did google up a youtube video and saw that the tune and lyrics appear to be a commonly recorded variant that's definitely more modern!
I suppose your scenario is theoretically possible. We know that "Poor, Wayfaring Stranger" (PWS) existed in something similar to its extant melody and lyrics prior to 1917. So we could imagine that kind of scenario, sure. Cousin Jimmy, long ago immigrated to America and now living in Kentucky, comes into some sweet cash and decides to return to the old country for Grandma's funeral in County Clare. Now Cousin Jimmy is one of those souls who just loves music and so he sings a song for his reacquainted relatives that he heard at a church picnic back home. Another music lover, hearing it, finds it haunting, and decides to learn it himself. That's not unlike how all those Irish ballads made their way to Appalachia, after all, so it's not impossible!
I would say it is unlikely, especially if you're asking if a fair number of British people would have known the song in 1917. British scholarship and interest in collecting American folk music is really JUST beginning in the early 1900s. There's actually a British pair of folklorists, Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles, who are in America in this timeframe (1916-1918) gathering American folk music in Appalachia and publishing it in Britain. They are, however, mainly interested in the folk songs of the British Isles that continue to be sung in Appalachia. In fact, Cecil has some kinda snooty things to say about American folk music. Here he is talking about the "cowboy music" that had recently been collected by another Americana collector of the period, Alan Lomax: "...the cowboy has been despoiled of his inheritance of traditional song; he has nothing behind him. When, therefore, he feels the need of self-expression, having no inherited fund of poetic literature upon which to draw, no imaginative world into which to escape, he has only himself and his daily occupations to sing about, and that in a self-centered, self-conscious way...." (Karpeles, xxi).
The version of PWS that most of us know dates from Burl Ives recording in 1944. PWS became a key part of a bigger presence/persona Ives was cultivating and he used "Wayfaring Stranger" in the title of his radio show and autobiography. The song also received a strong push from the folk revival and HUGE interest in Americana that occurred during the 1960s, being recorded by many key figures of the folk revival (Joan Baez, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Bob Dylan, to name a few).
While we don't have a firm grasp on the origin story of PWS, it starts to appear in print, at least in terms of lyrics that are similar to extant versions, in the late 1850s. Here are some notable appearances:
In the 1860s, the song is clearly being sung at revival meetings, church gatherings, and among soldiers in camps in the south in a few different forms. Not sure if it's ok, but some of these texts are fabulously available online, so if anyone is interested in sleuthing different lyrics, I will post links to the song in the sources section.
It's a fairly widespread citation that the earliest occurrence of PWS was in Kentucky Harmony, published in 1816 by Ananias Davisson. You'll see this a lot if you google, for instance, and it's cited this way in several folk music volumes from the 60s. This 1816 volume is usually considered the very first Southern shapenote tune book. The song referred to in this book is called Judgment ( http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/194.jpg). I am not totally sure that I see/hear the relationship--but it's interesting! This is a recording of a Sacred Harp group singing the parts (but with different lyrics: https://www.shenandoahharmony.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ShH-P37-Absent-Love.mp3). Do you hear PWS in there? :)
In 1925, Howard Odum wrote in his "The Negro and His Songs," about the history of "The Pilgrim's Song" as connected to African American spiritual tradition. "'The Pilgrim's Song' which has been considered so beautiful is still a favorite; the words of the stanzas differ little. It may be called a standard hymn of the Negroes. There is a story that Bishop Allen, the founder of the A.M.E. Church, composed the song on his dying bed. He was very well educated and a man of considerable ability and feeling. While the sadly hopeful words of the song are of a higher type than the average spiritual, and while its metrical form is far above the usual, the song still combines many of the ideas and phrases of the favorite spirituals of the slaves." Richard Allen was born in slavery in Delaware in 1760 and eventually opened his own African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Philadelphia in 1794. He died in 1831.
We don't really have any evidence for or against either of these origin stories. I think it really depends on how different people have wanted to imagine the story of this pensive and memorable song and who they wanted to imagine writing and singing those lyrics.
--
Bever, Joseph. The Christian Songster: a Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Usually Sung at Camp, Prayer, and Social Meetings, and Revivals of Religion; Designed for All Denominations. Printed at the Printing Establishment of the United Brethren in Christ, 1858. (fun link)
Boyd, Herb, editor. Autobiography of a People: Three Centuries of African American History Told by Those Who Lived It. Anchor Books, 2001.
Buchanan, Annabel Morris. Folk Hymns of America. J. Fischer, 1940.
Davisson, Ananias. Kentucky Harmony or A Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems. In Three Parts. Taken from the Most Eminent Authors, and Well Adapted to Christian Churches, Singing Schools, or Private Societies. 1816.
Hymns for the Camp. Riverside Press, 1862.
Karpeles, Maud, and Cecil J. Sharp. English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. Oxford University Press, 1932.
Mason, Thomas. Zions Songster, or, A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Usually Sung at Camp-Meetings, and Also in Revivals of Religion. Harper & Brothers, No. 82 Cliff-Street, 1835. (fun link)
Odum, Howard W. The Negro and His Songs: a Study of Typical Negro Songs in the South. Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 1925.
Revival and Camp Meeting Minstrel: Containing the Best Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected. Perkinpine & Higgins, 1867. (fun link)
Taylor, Marshall William. A Collection of Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies. Cranston and Stowe, 1890.
The Southern Zions Songster: Hymns Designed for Sabbath Schools, Prayer, and Social Meetings, and the Camps. M.W. Taylor, 1882.
