Annotation:Ask Momma

The melody appears in the music manuscripts of the Hardy family of Dorset, which included the writer and fiddler Thomas Hardy. "Ask Momma Polka" is mentioned by name in Robert Smith Surtees 1858 novel Ask Momma; or, the Richest Commoner in England, where it is one of the tunes played at the Hunt Ball (p. 398). It was composed in 1858 by William Henry Montgomery (1811?-1886), and dedicated to Miss Alice Ince. Montgomery was an English composer of dance music and a conductor, formerly a pupil of William Shield. He directed music and Sadler's Wells, Covent Garden and the Strand Theatre, and composed for a long series of pantomimes that ran at various venues. Some of his songs were quite popular in his time.