One and All was composed by Dr E.H.Moore and a music teacher in Truro called Charles G. Oliver quite independently of the traditional song and Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry regimental march by the same name. Little is known of the song or its composers except that Charles Oliver moved to Truro from the north of England at some stage for his health. He died 6th August 1894 and is buried in St Clements Churchyard.
The song was championed by Nathaniel Battershill Bullen (1845-1934), a Truro accountant who was twice mayor of the city and a local JP. He was also a leading Cornish Tenor who performed widely n Cornwall. London and elsewhere and introduced this song as part of his repertoire. He made his manuscript copy available to Ralph Dunstan who published in his Lyver Canow Kernow / Cornish Song Book in 1929. An arrangement of the song was also used by Edwin J Williams, bandmaster and contemporary of Ralph Dunstan. [i]
Some years after Charles Oliver’s death Nathaniel Bullen had a tombstone erected to his memory in St. Clement’s Churchyard with a portion of the song engraved upon it.
One and All as arranged by Ralph Dunstans and Nathaniel Bullen
It is interesting to find manuscript copies of this song in the archive of Edmund Williams, bandmaster and composer which show that there was wider interest in this patriotic song:
[i] Ralph Dunstan, Lyver Canow Kernewek- The Cornish Songbook, (London, Reid Bros, 1929)p 16: Ancestry.com- Charles G Oliver and Nathaniel Battershill Bullen.
The CNMA wishes to record its thanks to Alison England, Edwin Williams’ granddaughter, for granting permission for this composition to be included here