Kipling poem and made him wonder whether Kipling had actually composed to that tune, it being a common folk song in the 19th century and certainly part of the repertoire of the remarkable Copper family of Sussex who had lived in Rottingdean when Kipling was also living there. (A local man called Copper appears briefly in Rewards and Fairies.) It has also been suggested that Kipling's "My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the reveille..." was written to the common Irish song and Army marching tune "Lillibullero". Bellamy found a different tune but agreed that "Lillibullero" was more likely to have been on Kipling's mind at the time of composition. Initially, Bellamy's proposal to record the Ballads was vetoed by Kipling's daughter, and he had to wait until her death in 1976 before permission was finally granted by the Kipling Society. The Barrack Room Ballads album was recorded by Bill Leader, with Chris Birch (brother of Bellamy's first wife) on fiddle and Tony Hall on melodeon. Chris also contributed to numerous other Bellamy albums, playing fiddle and guitar, singing and providing vocal arrangements. The Kipling Society went on to appreciate Bellamy's contribution to Kipling's legacy and he was elected a Fellow of the Kipling Society, becoming a vice-president in 1981. A tribute album Oak, Ash and Thorn comprising songs from Bellamy's Oak, Ash & Thorn and Merlin's Isle of Gramarye, was released in 2011, with contributions from artists including Jon Boden, Olivia Chaney, Charlie Parr, Fay Hield, Tim Eriksen, Trembling Bells, The Unthanks, Jackie Oates, Sam Lee, Lisa Knapp and The Owl Service. Suicide Bellamy committed suicide on 24 September 1991 in Keighley, an event that baffled many in the folk music community. At the time, he was working with Fellside Records on a project to record major British unaccompanied singing talents. However, according to a thread called 'Boring, Bleating Old Traddy' on the online Mudcat Cafe folk music forum, several of his friends had found him depressed at the way his folk club bookings had unaccountably fallen away after the respect with which The Transports had been received. Folk music journalist and critic Michael Grosvenor Myer, one of those who had named The Transports his record of the year in The Guardian, where he was subsequently to write his obituary, relates how Bellamy showed him an empty engagement book, saying, in sad and puzzled tones, "The Transports was a runaway