the ancient men the oumm and its background ... - am39.com · the oumm and its background 5 wick,...

The Ancient Men

THE OUMM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Edited by Roy Judge

in 1970 and 1973

Revised and produced in chronological form

by Ian Hall and Gerard Robinson in 1993

A Note of Explanation Written in 1993

This history was produced in three parts dur-ing the years 1969 to 1973 by Roy Judge. It wasdesignedly a compilation, and the lack of a singlechronological sequence made it difficult to use. Theoriginal material has now been put in one sequenceand produced in a format appropriate for 1993 by IanHall and Gerard Robinson. The relevant sections ofthe three original Prefaces are given below. Apartfrom rearrangement of order nothing else has beenaltered.

A. The Morris in Oxford: An Interim Report.Sent out in the spring of 1970

In the Spring of 1969, after some years of rather vaguediscussion about the ignorance of the present OUMMconcerning their predecessors in Oxford, I wrote a fewtentative letters to see whether it would be possibleto find out more about our history. Much to ourpleasure and somewhat to our surprise my enquirieswere welcomed and I received a wealth of informationand a unanimously enthusiastic encouragement. Nowmy first duty is to thank all those who have given somuch time in looking out old diaries and gatheringtheir memories together. I would also thank thosewho have lent or given pictorial evidence, and thosewho have given me hospitality in my researches.

B. The OUMM and its background: Part One1899–1914. Sent out in October 1970

The Interim Report of February 1970 produced agood deal of further information and several veryhappy incidental results. Among them were the giftsto the men by Kay Barmby of the original OUMMMorris Music Book and by Charles Bardswell of hisoriginal OUMM Morris bells. Geoffrey Fiennes gavethe men his copies of the early EFDS Journal andNews and also offered a camping site at East World-ham for the tour of the Ancient Men in 1971.

The OUMM archives, in fact, are flourishing; verymany thanks to everyone for their help.

This instalment is self-explanatory. Again it isreally a chronicle, produced by ‘scissors and paste’,rather than a history. Again I must apologise for mytyping.1 Again I would be very grateful for correc-tions and additional information.

The next instalment will include the additionalmaterial on the period from 1919–1939, and I hopeto send it out some time next Spring.

1Any infelicities in typing are now our fault, not Roy’s.GCR and IWH

C. The OUMM and its Background: ThirdInstalment. Sent out in May 1973

I sent out my initial Interim Report in the Spring of1970. Page two concerned the period before 1914 andthis was quickly expanded into my second offering,‘The OUMM and its Background: Part One 1899–1914’, which I distributed in the autumn of 1970.I had intended the next instalment to contain addi-tional material for the inter-war period and to be sentout in the Spring of 1971. But in 1971 archival activ-ity was diverted into other very worthwhile directions.First there was the Hampshire Tour based on Geof-frey Fiennes’ home at East Worldham. This was ahighly archival event in itself. Geoffrey’s quiet pres-ence during the week and then especially his speechat the Feast and his playing for the final Blue-EyedStranger created a remarkable sense of unity with theearly OUMM.

Secondly Russell Wortley kindly included an ac-count of the early days of the Oxford Branch as partof the Jubilee Symposium in the Folk Music Journalfor 1971. This kept my attention fixed on the periodbefore 1914. A third distracting factor was a grow-ing interest in May Day (especially in the Jack in theGreen) in general, and in Oxford in particular, so thattime tended to go into that. While all this was goingon, Francis Tabor, bless him, was continually produc-ing for me the most fascinating pieces of informationabout the OUMM of the late twenties, culminating inwhat amounted to a full log of the Cornwall Tour of1929.

During 1972 my own working life tended to bebusy and I did not get the chance to stand back andconsider how to handle the gathered material. Havingdone just that certain things now seem reasonablyclear.

1. I have made contact with a very good propor-tion of the people involved. I would thank ev-eryone for their kindness, interest and help.

2. I have a fair outline of events from 1899–1914,and I can produce one for 1915 on.

3. I am not going to feel satisfied with anythingthat I produce as being either complete or ade-quate to its subject.

4. I should however ignore this reluctance and pro-duce this instalment as a final summary to beread with the other material.

5. The final Club Log Book would include all thismaterial together with all possible illustrationsand any additional information that emerges.

2

The OUMM and its background 3

6. The hunt for Jack in the Green and May Morn-ing information would continue.

As a celebratory final gesture I had intended to begintyping this on May Day 1973, the Fiftieth Birthday ofone particular May Morning, and the Sixty-first An-niversary of that first Branch of May. On looking the11th May up in Hone, I find that unbeknownst I amtyping it on Old May Day. On further considerationthis must actually be Old May Eve, which still seemssomehow subtly appropriate.

The OUMM and its background

The Early Stages 1899–1910

It is difficult to know how much of the London andnational background to supply. Its complexities couldbe misleading when presented in this summarisedform, so I would refer the interested to Maud Karpe-les’ clear and full account in the Life of Cecil Sharpand the very interested to the Cuttings Books in theVaughan Williams Memorial Library.

The twentieth century revival in Oxford has, ofcourse, always had a special character given to itby the fact of the original historic meeting betweenCecil Sharp and William Kimber at Sandfield Cottageon Boxing Day 1899, and by the continued presence,activity and influence of Kimber during the next sixtyyears.

In 1905 Mary Neal first brought Kimber to Lon-don to teach the Headington dances to her Working-Girls’ Club in Cumberland Market. The first editionof the Morris Book in July 1907 was dedicated to “ourfriends and pupils of the Espérance Girls’ Club” andits notation was based partly on the dancing of thegirls and particularly that of Miss Florence Warrenthe chief instructress.

In November 1907 Mary Neal called an informalconference “to talk over plans for putting at the ser-vice of all who wish for it, this great possession ofEnglish folk-music in which it has been our good for-tune to be the means of reviving interest.” But al-ready Sharp was doubtful of the wisdom of furthercollaboration. “There was a fundamental differenceof attitude towards the dances between him and MaryNeal. He was fretted by her lack of artistic disciplineand she no doubt considered him to be unduly repres-sive.” (Karpeles)

In April 1908 Mary Neal began the “Associationfor the Revival and Practice of Folk Music”.

The first extant piece of Oxford documentary ev-idence follows on from this, being a leaflet issued bythe “Oxford Society for the Revival of Folk-Dance”.It saysAn attempt is about to be made to revive the old Mor-ris and Folk-Dances in Oxford City and County, as hasalready been done with singular success in other places.With this object a small Committee has been formedand a teacher engaged to come down from London fora week, to instruct all who wish to learn in the method ofdancing. Classes being formed to suit different ages andneeds. . .Miss Mary Neal, Secretary of the London Associ-ation, has kindly offered to give an address on the subject,to be accompanied, if possible, by a demonstration. Thiswill take place under the auspices of the Teachers’ Guildon Saturday, October 10, at 8.15 p.m. Entrance free.

The Oxford Times (17 October 1908) gives a fullaccount of this occasion, under the heading “Revivalof English Folk-Music”.An enthusiastic meeting, composed mostly of ladies, gath-ered at the Girls’ High School on Saturday afternoon tohear a lecture on ‘Folk-Songs’ and to witness an exhibi-tion of Morris-dancing. Mr E. F. Davidson (HM Inspectorof Schools) took the chair and briefly introduced the lec-turer, Miss Mary Neal, hon. secretary to the EspéranceWorking-Girls’ Club in London.

The latter reviewed the history of the movement, whichhad crystallised into a course of dancing and singinglessons which that meeting would inaugurate in Oxford.A demonstration was given by boys and girls from IffleyChurch School instructed by Miss Rosina Mallet a mem-ber of the Espérance Club. Mr William Kimber and MissMallet gave some exhibitions of other dances such as ‘Jockat the Fair’.

At the conclusion of the performances which wereenthusiastically applauded by the audience, Mr Scottthanked Miss Neal for the treat which they had enjoyedand remarked that while on a recent tour in Norway hehad noticed these dances in that country and was agree-ably surprised to find them revived in England on hisreturn.

The Oxford Chronicle picked out another pointfrom Mr Scott’s thanks.For his part he was a Somersetshire man who had livedin that county for most of his life, and yet he had neverhad the least idea of the existence there of these beautifulenjoyable Morris dances.

It also gives a story that Miss Neal was to tell manytimes.There was nothing in the least objectionable about thesefolk dances; none of the unhealthy influences and emotionswere aroused. An old Somersetshire sailor had seen herclub dancing and exclaimed ‘That’s the dancing of myheart; I wouldn’t have missed it for two big apples.’ (Loudlaughter). Then he added significantly ‘It’s what I callclean dancing.’ (Applause).

(Incidentally, as reported in the Central SomersetGazette for 13 June 1914, he also added ‘There’s nohugging in it.’)

The Oxford Society for the Revival of the Folk-Dance published a “Programme for Selection” (copyin VWML).Any of the following Dances, with appropriate Actionsand Singing intervals, are taught by the Lady Teacher.The Songs are all in print already, and it is highly desirableto become familiar with these in advance by the use of MrCecil Sharp’s and Mr McIlwaine’s published Collection, tobe had of Mr Taphouse, 3 Magdalen Street, Oxford, andothers.

The local organisers were Charlotte S. Sidgwickof 64 Woodstock Road and Constance M. Leicesterof 17 Staverton Road. M.S. (probably Marjorie Sidg-

4


wick, daughter of Charlotte) had a delightfully allu-sive article in the EFDS News No.22 January 1930.Presumably referring to Rosina Mallet she writesThe first Oxford teacher was an east London club girl,looking about fourteen, almost a slum girl, probably agypsy, a brown-eyed goblin with feet trained by Londonbarrel organs, taking a class of forty middle-aged schoolmistresses with great calm.

The Notes on the “Programme for Selection” sayThe Dances are also genuine Folk Music, for the most partthey were collected from two peasants in Oxfordshire inwhose family they had been handed down from fatherto son for five generations. These men were brought toLondon, and taught the members of the Espérance Club todance with such success, that they are in their turn to-dayteaching the dances from one end of England to the other.Everywhere the same interest has been aroused. Thatthere is life and joy in the movement is proved beyonddoubt by the daily growing demand for their services. Itdoes not seem too much to hope that the Merrie Englandof our tradition and of our dream may be before long theMerrie England of the present.

So far only two further references to the activitiesof the Society in Oxford have been discovered.

On 26 June 1909 the Espérance Club gave a con-cert in the garden of Black Hall by kind permissionof Mrs R. Morrell. Kimber danced Jockey to the Fairand Bacca Pipes. Theo Chaundy’s account of Kim-ber refers to the latter’s memory of dancing at BlackHall for Lady Ottoline Morell: presumably this wasthe same occasion.

The other reference is indirect, deriving from anarticle by Mary Neal in the Observer of 5 November1911, in which she mentions that boys and girls ofthe Espérance Guild of Morris Dancers had been in-vited to join a revival Headington side in a display inOxford “last year”.

The Oxford Journal for 20 March 1909 refers toa lecture given by Sharp on “English Folk Music” atthe Municipal Assembly Rooms during which Kimberdanced. The meeting was full to overflowing.

Meanwhile in London and elsewhere the revivalcontinued apace. The Morning Post for 14 January1909 reported on Mary Neal’s activities under theheading “Dancing and Social Reform: What LondonWorking Girls Are Doing”.

Two bricklayers. . .willingly allowed their melodies to beharmonised and their dances which were given on the‘High’ every Whit Monday, to be taught to the girls.

From Redditch, near Stratford-on-Avon came the ideaof using tall hats as part of the costume for the dances,and the Head Master of Eton was good enough to provideseveral of these articles of headgear for the purpose.

On 4 March Sharp gave a lecture at Steinway Hallon The Morris Dance, and Kimber and R. Doddridgeperformed. This was the occasion on which Kimberbroke his concertina. An appeal for a subscriptionraised £7 and he was later presented by Sharp with a

concertina inscribed “From all the audience at Stein-way Hall March 4 1909.”

On 11 June Sharp and Kimber performed at aFete in the grounds of Chelsea Hospital before KingEdward and Queen Alexandra. “When the perfor-mance was over their Majesties graciously intimatedthe pleasure they had received from it”. Also appear-ing at the Fete were “Young ladies from Chelsea Phys-ical Training College”. Sharp had been instructing atChelsea since 1908. It was during the summer of 1909that the Board of Education agreed to recognise thedances as part of its course of physical exercise.

On 27 September a School of Morris dancing wasestablished in connection with the Physical Train-ing Department of the S.W. Polytechnic Institute,Chelsea, with Cecil Sharp as the Director. Its pur-pose was “primarily to conserve the Morris dance inall its traditional purity; and secondly to teach it asaccurately as possible to those who desire to becometeachers themselves or professed teachers of it.”

In March 1910 Mary Neal established theEspérance Guild of Morris Dancers in place of theAssociation for the Revival and Practice of Folk Mu-sic.

At this point the differences of opinion betweenSharp and Neal came clearly into the open. Sharpwrote to the Morning Post (1 April) to disassociatehimself from Espérance Activities. “It is however ob-vious that if our folk dances are to be revived amongthe lettered classes it is of supreme importance thatthey should be taught by accredited instructors, andthat only those dances should be disseminated whichare the survivals of a genuine and unbroken tradi-tion.”

On 23 April in a further letter, “the new society tobe effective should include in its executive the expertas well as the philanthropist.”

Maud Karpeles, in Mary Neal’s obituary (EDSVIII 6 Jul/Aug 1944) discusses the reasons for thisbreach, seeing it as the “clash of two dominant per-sonalities”. On one hand Mary Neal saw it as “theage-long controversy, the difference between the formand the life, the pedant and those in touch with lifeitself”. On the other, Sharp saw “the danger of en-thusiasm that is uninformed”. “Philanthropy and arthave nothing in common, and to unite them spellsdisaster.”

Mary Neal was essentially a philanthropist. She had aburning desire to bring happiness into the lives of others,and particularly those whose lot had fallen in drab andimpoverished surroundings. Cecil Sharp was also a loverof his fellow-men for all his diatribes against philanthropy.His desire was to bring into their lives the forms of artis-tic expression which were their birthright. What MaryNeal mistook in him for pedantry was his reverence fortradition. Mary Neal believed that to acquire a techniquewas to take away from the enjoyment of the dances. CecilSharp believed that technique and artistry are body andsoul, matter and spirit and that nearly all the troubles in

6 The OUMM and its background

the world come from the attempt to divorce the one fromthe other.

The future in Oxford as elsewhere lay with Sharp,but the work of Mary Neal and the Espérance Morrisshould by no means be forgotten. [See the Folk MusicJournal (1989) 5, 545–91, for an article by Roy Judge,‘Mary Neal and the Espérance Morris’.]

1911

In February Sharp visited Oxford to give a lectureon “English Sword Dances”. The Sword Dance Book ,vol. I, was to be published later that year.

The lecture was illustrated with dances by the stu-dents of the Chelsea Physical Training College. TheOxford Times remarks “This dance was danced forthe first time in public at Oxford, but unless Mr Sharphad told us so, and apologised beforehand for any pos-sible mistakes, one would never have suspected it.”

The Oxford Journal comments “Of the extraordi-nary character of those dances it is hard to give anidea. They are barbaric, wild and yet restrained, ex-ultant and religious as the dancing dervishes are. . .There is an old book of descriptions of dances datingback to 1350 in which information is so precise thatwith the information Mr Sharp has already acquiredhe can follow them correctly.”

Sharp also talked about the Morris. “It is a pointof honour with Morris dancers never to take up toomuch room, and they have been known to practicesteps in the narrow dimensions of a sheep-trough inorder to acquire the coveted steadiness and rigidity.”He showed the pipe and tabor “found beside the oldplayer when he died in a barn at Temple Guiting. Thepipe is made of plumwood.”

The next two pieces of evidence cannot be pre-cisely dated, but they seem from internal referencesto belong to 1911.

The first is a leaflet headed “Classes in Folk-Dancing (English)” (copy in VWML).It has been arranged to hold, early in October, classesfor instruction in Country Dancing in the Music Room, 3Magdalen Street. A lady, highly trained at the PhysicalTraining College, Chelsea, will conduct the classes. TheDances have been collected in country villages by Mr Ce-cil Sharp, who is the Director of the “School of MorrisDancing” in connection with that college.

The Traditional Dances of England now discoverednumber about sixty. Eighteen of these are “CountryDances” used only for social enjoyment and within thereach of all. The “Morris” is in origin a religious or cere-monial dance, confined to the initiated who pass it on withstrict insistence upon correctness and, if possible, unifor-mity. And this has set a high standard in all countrieswhere Step-Dances are practised.

To dance well therefore, steps must be learnt in theMorris School, they can be used for Figures. A CountryDance consists of a series of Figures.

Any of the following can be taught: the “Morris” asfollows:

Bobbing JoeShepherd’s Hey (second version)Brighton CampGreen GartersGlorishears

Jigs Princess RoyalLumps of Plum-Pudding

and the Derbyshire Morris-Reel (which requires 16 dan-cers). . .Private lessons or classes in private houses, may also behad by special arrangement, and all who desire it arerequested to notify their wishes to Mr Taphouse duringAugust.

This, from the number of dances referred to, andfrom the absence of any reference to the EFDS, seemsto date from the summer of 1911.

The second piece of evidence comes from the arti-cle by “M.S.” already quoted, and is more difficult todate with any certainty. However it must relate to aperiod before the arrival of Miss Daking, which wasno later than March 1912.

After mentioning “the first Oxford teacher”, M.S.continuesThat was the pioneer stage, and but for the backing of theelementary schools of Oxford, and their broadminded andlightfooted teachers, there Oxford might have stayed. Agreat man in the University took up dancing; a lady fromSomerville became Secretary. Oxford demanded a newteacher, and added in its usual pleasant style that shemust be a diplomatist, a heaven-sent organiser and a firstclass musician. The result of that application was MrsKettlewell. The Women’s Institutes perhaps regard MrsKettlewell as a committee lady, a serious craftswoman,one of the noble order of Presidents, but to her originalpupils she was the one and only jig-dancer and, aboveall, jig-player. They still know the sound of her pi-ano at a thousand yards. This was the unofficial stage.Friends lent houses, the University began mildly capering,Somerville skipped and approved. Kelmscott held a won-derful party where country teams danced for cups, withhay waggons which had brought them drawn up round thefield. (O shades of Blenheim with your motor parks reflecton that.) Mrs Hobbs in a yellow handkerchief presided;old Mrs William Morris, beautiful and tragic looked on.(An old resident of Oxford said casually the other daythat this was the prettiest party she had ever attended.)

This allusiveness is delightful and highly evoca-tive, but somewhat confusing factually. The “greatman” could presumably have been Tiddy. The “ladyfrom Somerville” seems to be Miss M. V. Taylor. Inthe Autumn of 1913 she was actually Treasurer, whileCharlotte Sidgwick was Secretary. Theo Chaundythanked her thus. . . “Not only was Miss Taylor largelyresponsible for the early spade-work, which gave thebranch its great success in the pre-war days. . . ” TheKelmscott party actually seems to have been the nextyear: 20 June 1912.

On 6 December 1911 the EFDS was founded,based on the Folk Dance Club which had developedout of the Chelsea class. Mrs Kettlewell (then MissWalsh) became the first Secretary.


1912

A pleasant piece of evidence for the kind of situa-tion described above by M.S. comes from the EveningNews for 4 February 1912.

The Morris Dancers

Morris dancing has been taken up at Oxford, a num-ber of the younger fellows and tutors being among itsdevotees.

No more for me the turkey trot,The bunny-hug, the grizzly-bear!They say that such are but a blotUpon a pastime sweet and fair;But, though I have relinquished these,I yet can skip and slap my knees,Can point my toe and shuffle—so!And caper in the air.

The dons who dwell on Isis banksMay eye the rag-time “rag” askance,But you should see their giddy pranksAs merrily they leap and prance.For those who blush and turn asideOn witnessing the latest glideAre not appalled if it be calledAn English morris dance.

And some few cycles later on,The newest steps by then designedWill doubtless shock the gentle donBut “trots” and “hugs” he will not mind,For dances, when they first intrude,Are always rough and wild and rude,But, once grown old, they are, I’m told,Artistic and refined.

Touchstone.

22 February 1912. The HQ men’s team gave its firstpublic performance of Morris at the Suffolk StreetGalleries. It consisted of George Butterworth, Perce-val Lucas, George Wilkinson, James Paterson, A. C.(Claud) Wright and Douglas Kennedy. Sharp playedthe piano and Elsie Avril the violin.15 March 1912. The inaugural meeting of the OxfordBranch of the EFDS was held in the Corn Exchange.William Hamilton Fyfe of Merton occupied the Chair,and Mr Sharp gave a short lecture. “He said this wasa red-letter day in his life, as on it he welcomed thefirst child in the provinces born to the London parentsociety, and a fine large child it was. He consideredit highly creditable that it had already turned out aMorris of men that could dance a jig that was verygood Morris.”

“Blue-eyed Stranger and Shepherds Hey weredanced by Mr Wright (London), Mr Tiddy (TrinityColl.) and other undergraduates.” Tiddy and Wright

also danced Jockey to the Fair. “Miss Daking wouldattend on Saturdays for the purpose of instruction.She danced Princess Royal very gracefully.”

Miss D. C. (Caroline) Daking is mentioned byM.S. in the article already quoted from EFDS News,January 1930:

The third teacher was in essence like the first; Londonborn, deadly efficient, three-feet high, with classes so hugeshe had to mount a high chair to conduct them. Professorsand biologists vied for her instruction; rowing blues sat onher doorstep enquiring whether their left foot back shufflewas really coming on. The folk-dancers became a club,and gave moonlight picnics up the Cherwell. That was thehalcyon stage, and ended, like all good things, in August1914.

Mr R. B. Beckett, who was up at Lincoln from1908–13, and now lives at Northmoor, vividly recallsher as an “india-rubber ball”, handling a class withsomething like twenty men in it, in a hall with mirrorsall the way round it, which showed up their mistakesmost unkindly.

The Oxford Journal for 12 June 1912 gives picto-rial evidence of Miss Daking’s work, with photographsof “An exhibition of Old English and Morris dancinggiven by the Oxford Branch of that Society in theThame Tennis Court on Thursday before an apprecia-tive audience.” One picture shows Miss Daking “whoably managed the display”. Another shows six men ina handkerchief dance, with baldricks and bells, appar-ently intended to be in the air at the end of a figure.This must be one of the first photos of men’s revivalMorris (if not the first, outside of the HQ side), and,like so many later ones, it is somewhat unkind.

On 19 November 1912 Sharp lectured at the NewMasonic Hall. The President of Magdalen (Dr War-ren) was in the Chair.

“A number of dances were then performed by atroop of dancers from the headquarters of the EFDSassisted by some ladies from the Oxford branch.”

Oxford Dancers Before 1914

This list is still very much a working document and isfull of loose ends and gaps. It seems better to includeit in this state, however, rather than delay sendingout the whole section. Corrections and additionalinformation would be much appreciated.

Reginald Tiddy, Fellow of Trinity from 1905

David Pye’s Memoir of Tiddy, attached to the posthu-mous publication The Mummers’ Play , gives an ad-mirable account:The first Chairman and the moving spirit of the OxfordBranch of the EFDS. By 1914 the dances were a famil-iar sight there, and Oxford society had got over its firstsurprise at the spectacle of University Dons in bells andbaldric dancing these vigorous dances to the music of thepipe and tabor or their modern equivalent.


It was at a garden party in the grounds of his ownCollege that one of our first public appearances took place.In those early days it took some courage to appear in thelight of day before an Oxford gathering, and speaking formyself, I was glad to feel a comparative stranger, underthe raised eyebrows of a surprised, if tolerant company.

To Tiddy, I think, any self-consciousness was quite un-known; such demonstrations of course were not the settingin which to enjoy the dances properly—that one did intheir native villages—but while regarding the demonstra-tions as propaganda, he so enjoyed the actual performanceof the dances, and was so convinced of their essential dig-nity, that he was never conscious of the sneers of the un-believer. His wit, too, always good humoured, was everready to disarm the critic; he brought to the dancing, asto all he did, a lightness of touch and a delicacy of playfulhumour which was quite unassailable.

T. F. Higham of Trinity kindly wrote recalling hisacquaintance with Tiddy at the beginning of the war.During night operations on Port Meadow, when wewere both in the Officers’ Training Corps, he was morecaptivated—and so was I—by the heavenly bodies andthe sounds of running water than by the military work inhand and introduced me to what he called ‘The higherpantheism’. I always wished we could have pursued thisstudy. Never was there a gentler or more amiable com-panion.

More should be said about his work at Ascott-under-Wychwood, and at Bledington, and on theMummers’ Play generally. His death on the Somme in1916 was a tragic loss. The EFDS Journal Vol 1, No2, April 1915, gives a list of men serving in the Forceswho had been members or attenders of classes. Thefollowing are noted as Oxford University:

R. A. Boddington (Trinity from 1911)C. L. Godson (Trinity)F. A. Hampton (New from 1908?)C. R. Hollway (Balliol)W. A. H. King (Balliol from 1912)C. C. A. Monro (Trinity)T. C. OutramE. G. R. Romanes (Magdalen)N. H. Romanes (Christ Church)A. N. H. Scott (Balliol)W. G. P. Thorold (New)L. A. VidalJ. N. Wilson (Balliol)

The following were also involved to a greater orlesser extent in the EFDS during this period. Aboutmost of them there is much more that should be said.

A. D. Lindsay Fellow of Balliol from 1906William Hamilton Fyfe Fellow of Merton from 1904David Pye Fellow of New from 1909Bill Croft Trinity 1912–1915R. V. Lennard Fellow of Wadham from 1909George Butterworth Trinity 1904–1908Herbert Thomas Magdalen 1901–1904Roland Heath Merton 1909–1912

Theo Chaundy Balliol 1906–1909and then Christ Church

Ronald Beckett Lincoln 1909–1913F. R. Salter Magdalen

Bill Croft was later Editor of the Journal 2ndSeries. In the first issue, 1927, he wrote an articleentitled ‘Fifteen Years Progress’. In the followingextract he is clearly thinking particularly of Tiddy.

Both these branches (Kelmscott and Cirencester) and thatof Oxford among others played a distinguished part in theearly history of the Society. . .

Oxford strengthened the intellectual side of the move-ment and supplied a useful reserve of trained men dancers.For more than two and a half years the only men whomthe headquarters of the Society had at their disposal werethe six who formed the original team which first appearedat the beginning of 1912. The record of that team is oneof remarkable devotion, but when on rare occasions oneof them was unable to turn out, his place was filled, andcould only have been filled, from Oxford.

1913

The OUDS produced Dekker’s Shoemaker’s Holidayat the New Theatre on Wed–Sat, 29 Jan–1 Feb, andon 3 Feb.

The preliminary notice in the Oxford Journal of29 January 1913 said “The Morris dancers, besidesthe undergraduates in the play, include several Donsbelonging to the local Folk Dance Society, so they aresure to make a great success.”

This they did. The Evening Standard of 30 Jan-uary 1913 said “The Morris dancers introduced intothe scene at Old Ford and performed by membersof the Oxford University Folk Dance Society broughtdown the house.”

The Oxford Journal of 5 February 1913, in a pagedevoted to Fashion, Social News and Domestic Hints,commentedThe Morris dancers call for a paragraph to themselves.Surely never in real life and never before on the stage werethere such glorified Morris dancers. Their long goldenboots were a joy in themselves; their harmoniously shadedribbons streaming everywhere as they danced, their blackhats with black and white brims, their little bells andeverything about them was of the finest, and the way thoseMorris dancers leapt into the air and played leap-frog,some of them of sober years and solid proportions, waswonderful to see. I do not think our original HeadingtonMorris dancers were anything like so agile. Of course theywere encored and had to do it all over again, so what theywere like at the end of the run it is difficult to imagine. Itmust have been very reducing.

David Pye’s Memoir of Tiddy saysI well remember the early misgivings when we were invitedto help the OUDS as the Morris Men in Dekker’s Shoe-maker’s Holiday which they were then rehearsing. Tiddyjumped at the invitation. It would be a fine opportunityfor gaining new recruits. And so the last enormity wasperpetrated, and the Senior Proctor of the day appeared


as a dancer on the boards of the Oxford theatre. Theaffair proved indeed a triumphant success, and our ‘side’was doubly encored at each performance of that boister-ous week.

It would seem very likely that this was the occa-sion of that elusive phrase “The Dancing Dons”. KayBarmby writes “I seem to remember someone tellingme that a poster of the performance was displayedannouncing in big letters ‘The Dancing Dons’.”

One interesting implication lies behind the refer-ence to a University Society. It is that on this oc-casion it existed in its own right separate from theOxford Branch. Later in the year the Oxford Chron-icle clearly sees this as being the situation. On 11April 1913, in referring to a display by the OxfordBranch of the EFDS, it goes on to mention the Uni-versity EFDS “whose members showed their prowesson the production of the Shoemaker’s Holiday by theOUDS”. This separation seems to have been an iso-lated occurrence, presumably arising out of the par-ticular circumstances.

The Annual Meeting of the Oxford Branch tookplace on 13 February. The Oxford Chronicle, com-menting on this, said “If it is true that there was inChaucer’s time a ‘scole of Oxenforde’ in this line, itbehoves the University to treat the Morris as seriouslyas it now seems ready to do”.

In twenty manere coude he trippe anddaunce

After the scole of Oxenforde tho,And with his legges casten to and fro,And playen songes on a small rubible;Therto he song somtyme a loud quinible;And as well coude he playe on his giterne.In al the toun, nas brewhous ne taverneThat he ne visited with his solas,Ther any gaylord tappestere was.

Miller’s Tale 142–150

The Oxford Times for the same date rather curi-ously speaks of the Oxford Branch as “inauguratedon May Day last year”. It is not yet clear what liesbehind this apparently inaccurate reference.

During the remainder of the year the main sourceof information has been the “Secretary’s annual Re-port for Local Branch 1913” (Copy in VWML). Thisis invaluable and will be reproduced in its entirety,with any supplementary material inserted in brack-ets. The Secretary, all thanks to her for her admirablework, was Charlotte Sidgwick.

The Annual Meeting of 1912 was held in 1913 on Feb13. Classes worked on through Lent Term but no displayswere given.

In April, like the cuckoo, we began to testify. All SoulsLibrary entertained the International Historical Congress,on the evening of Wednesday the 9th, with Old-EnglishDances danced on a stone floor. A choice and exemplaryprogramme was offered, both Morris and Country dances:

‘Dargason’ and ‘Dearest Dicky’, and the Derbyshire Pro-cessional. Ascott dancers helped.”

(The Oxford Chronicle for 11 April 1913 says thatthis was arranged by Miss Daking and Mr Tiddy, andgives more details of the dances; Jockey (Heading-ton), Rigs of Marlow, Laudnum Bunches, Leap-Frog(Bledington), and Step-Back.)

Close upon this University duty, our Teacher was ableto attend to a call from Dorchester Missionary TrainingCollege, and to give the students there a week’s trainingin the Morris, which they wished to use in order to give ashow in aid of their cricket club. They learned very well,and have since come to Miss Daking’s aid in a vacationdisplay in time of need.

At the same time, a reviving touch was given to the Ele-mentary (Foundation) Girls’ School of Dorchester, wheretwo young teachers had been steadily practising on thechildren a few early Morris dances, gained by them fromMiss Walsh so long ago as the autumn of 1911 ‘Playford’was welcomed as an entire novelty in the School.

On Whitmonday Mrs Furniss lent Ruskin College hergrounds, and our teams were engaged to dance in agarden-tent for the guests invited. It was wet weatherand hard on the grass, but proved so pleasant that Play-ford Class was invited to dance upon the same ground(in the open) all through the month of May. The Branchwishes to make acknowledgement to Mr and Mrs Furniss,and to express regret for any damage done in this mannerto their garden. These classes will be remembered withjoy.

On May 24, Somerville College was ‘At Home’ to theworkmen employed on the New Buildings, and asked fora performance of dances on the lawn in front of MaitlandHall. The Mayor and Mayoress were present. A set of MrGillman’s photographs on postcards 2d. each, commemo-rate this occasion.”

(The Oxford Journal for 4 June 1913 has a fineset of Photographs for this occasion, under the cap-tion ‘Garden Party at Somerville College’. Un-derneath it says, ‘The Principal and Students ofSomerville College recently entertained the employeesof Messrs. Hutchins and Co., who have been entrustedwith the extensions now being carried out at the col-lege. The guests were shown over the various parts ofthe college, after which tea was served under the treesin the garden, at the conclusion of which a pretty andpleasing exhibition of Old English and Morris danc-ing was given by the Oxford branch of the Old Folkand Morris Dancing Society.’

One picture shows three women going counterclockwise round three men, (Jenny Pluck Pears?).The two men visible are dressed in whites withoutbaldricks.

There are two pictures of the Morris, both some-what more flattering than the picture of 1912 atThame. Again the sets are composed of men, com-plete with bells and baldricks. The dancing looks tobe of a very reasonable standard of unanimity andliveliness. One picture could be of the hop-backs in


Dearest Dickie, and the other shows all men doing anopen side-step.

Miss Frances Griffiths, who was a student atSomerville at the time, has kindly provided anotherphotograph. This shows three couples standing in around formation, apparently waiting for the begin-ning of a dance, possibly that shown in the OxfordJournal picture. On the back are four names. Threeare Somerville students of the time: Eleanor Fisher,apparently speaking to the audience, E. Moorhouse,and P. Dixon. The other is A. D. Lindsay, wearinga baldrick, looking very cheerful, and, Miss Griffithsconfirms, then Philosophy tutor at Balliol and laterto be Lord Lindsay. The two unnamed men are with-out baldricks. Miss Griffiths says that one of themwas Mr Tiddy.)

On May 27 a performance was given at St Hilda’s Hall, ofOld Singing-Games and Dances, by Teachers, and childrenfrom Holy Trinity and St Frideswide’s. A new dance(discovered in the Bodleian and edited with permissionfrom headquarters) was in the programme—viz. ‘Christ-church Bells’ (Playford ed. 1720 circa). A thunderstormbroke up the dancing, and the proceedings came to anuntimely end.

An extant dance has been found and recorded by MissPhyllis Marshall in Somerset. It has received Mr Sharp’ssanction, as genuine tradition. ‘The Breast Knot’ is itstitle, and the tune is now also recorded and sent in to theDirector.

The Term wound up with a general dance SaturdayNight, June 14, on the High School Games’ Club Ground,by kind permission of the authorities. It lasted from 6 to 9p.m. About 70 persons were present, chiefly Miss Daking’sclass-pupils. Violin and piccolo were planted in the centreof the ground, and lighted when it became necessary bya Japanese lantern held over the players. The UniversityMorris team did the Flamborough Sword-Dance midway.The Irish Trot expanded (owing to roominess) into newpatterns. In The Butterfly in the dark, everyone presentjoined, and so went home.

(Here is another reference to the “University Mor-ris team”. Presumably, as in the case of The Shoe-maker’s Holiday, it means those members of theBranch who happened to belong to the University,and who happened to be performing a dance to-gether.)

The only College Garden to invite us this year (among theolder colleges that is) has been Corpus Christi. Six verydelicate Playford Dances were performed on the Fellowssacred lawn, without leaving a trace behind. Professorand Mrs Stewart were our kind hosts. This was almostthe last event of Term.

Of other private parties, and of a Cherwell water-picnicI will not speak. The dew fell upon the latter cominghome.

On August 7, the Branch, undeterred by the absenceof University assistance, gave a Demonstration at LadyMargaret Hall for the Extension Summer School Students.Mr William Kimber was called in, and the Dorchester Mis-sionary College students came bravely to Miss Daking’said with Morris. Rain came on (as usual!) with great

violence and audience and dancers were kindly receivedinto the Hall, where the programme continued as it could.Mr Kimber played his concertina. Afterwards, the sun re-turning, the circle reformed itself on the (wet) lawn, andfinished with impunity. We had the authentic Headington‘Bacca-Pipes, and Princess Royal’. School children againdid very well indeed and ‘Saved the Show’. It must not beomitted that the University also saved its character in theperson of Mr Havelock of Merton College who acted asspokesman and ‘trumpeter’, and gave at the outset of theproceedings a luminous and masterly short explanation ofour movement. The Branch owes him many thanks.

There followed the Stratford Summer School at whichmany of our Branch were seen: Miss Daking camped outin a caravan.

(See the account of 1914 for a further reference toMiss Daking and her caravan.)

The present Term found us bereft, we hope temporarily,of Miss M. V. Taylor, our treasurer. Mrs Fyfe has noblystepped into the breach. We are now established, for mostof the classes, in the New Masonic Rooms in High Street.Miss Margaret-James has come to help Miss Daking, inthe village work specially, in which she is experienced,Kidlington, Sibford and Leafield were already waiting forher attention when Term began. Mr Sharp wrote to requi-sition her help for Coventry and Birmingham. Coventrywas temporarily provided for, but Miss James has beenweekly to Birmingham and Miss Daking to Bristol (nei-ther of them Oxfordshire villages).

However the villages have had due attention. Kidling-ton has affiliated, and under Lady Baines’ managementis a vigorous mission centre in itself. Miss Underhill andMiss Meadows are teaching there and Miss Daking willinspect the work on the 8th and 9th inst.

Sibford Ferris Boys’ School, and Sibford Gower Elemen-tary School were worked together by Miss James for 5days, Oct. 20–25. The Sibfords fall just within our countylimits, so we would like to score them to Oxford Centre,but are bound to divide the honours with Cirencester.

Leafield occupies the latter at the present time, and istoo new to be recorded—except that 24 men are learningMorris, night by night.

Application was made by the Vicar and Vicaress ofAlbury near Tiddington (S. Oxon.) for a show intheir school, to encourage Folk-Dancing among theirparishioners. We sent a gallant party, on Saturday last(Nov. 2) at night, which being hospitably entertained byMrs Carew Hunt rushed affoot through wet lanes anddanced all sorts of our dances to mutual satisfaction be-fore a small audience in Tiddington School: folk songswere added by Mr L. W. Hunter and Miss M. M. James,very beautifully.

The number of Miss Dakings pupils (exclusive of Clubs)is 97, Miss Underhill’s 15, Miss Meadow’s 34.

Two classes for infants are held; an experiment by MissJames at Mrs Gillett’s wish, on infants under three, tosee whether or not they care for music. It should interestPsychological Students.

Miss Daking continues her class for those over three,and teaches Singing Games on Tuesday mornings at theMasonic Rooms. The patron saint of both these classes isthought to be ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’.


At Kelmscott Competition, in June 1913, the Branchsent two women’s teams over, and won 1st Prize forWomen’s Morris and 2nd Prize for Playford (Old CountryDances).

Prizes are offered by our Committee for the best morris-dancing next April, if the local Bands of Hope introducedancing into their annual Physical Training Competition;and Miss Daking offers a sixpenny class to teachers andtrainers to this end.

(The Oxford Journal for April 1914 showed notrace of this taking place.)

The Branch sent a teacher from Little Farringdon for aweek to Stratford in August.

This Report ends on Wednesday, Nov. 26, on whichday a new centre, Waltham St Lawrence, near Twyford, istaken in hand by Miss Dakin, at the request of Mr LeopoldMcKemna of Honeys.

On 4 December 1913 a meeting took place in theHall of Trinity to consider the amalgamation of theOxford Folk-Music Society and the local EFDS. Anundated reference appeared in one of the local papersunder the heading

English Folk Dance SocietyCatholicity and Christmas Dancing

It is signed C.S.S. i.e. Sidgwick, and concerns Christ-mas 1913.

The Oxford branch no longer fears a revel. At first careful‘demonstration’ with expert help from the Central Society,was necessary, in order to do justice to our extraordinar-ily choice and distinguished discoveries—these Playforddances—still more to set forth ‘traditional Morris’. Butin the second year of work our instructor has felt able torely entirely on local material and to dance herself withunchecked mirth.

1914

Without the assistance of an Annual Report, the listof known activities in 1914 is much briefer than mustactually have been the case.

On Saturday 20 June 1914, “Henry Franklin ofCrown Street, who recently celebrated his 84th birth-day, gave an exhibition of Morris Dancing at CorpusChristi College.” (Oxford Journal 24 June 1914).

On Thursday 25 June 1914, “The Radley Vicaragegarden was gaily bedecked with flags and stalls, whena rustic fete was held in aid of the Kennington ChurchExtension Fund. Morris and Old English dancing wasgiven by members of the English Folk Dancing Soci-ety.” (Oxford Journal 1 July 1914) The accompanyingpicture is of ‘hands six’ in a three couple dance. Twoat least of the three men are wearing baldricks.

At about this time Kay Barmby remembers theBranch visiting Radley College, where her father wasa housemaster. One of the dances they did was cer-tainly Leap-Frog, with a men’s set. Radley had strong

connections with the EFDS and with the Morris. But-terworth had taught there in 1909, and Lance Vidaland others were pupils there. William Hamilton Fyfetaught there 1901–3.

Miss Daking again went to Stratford and campedin her caravan. This time she kept a full diary of herjourney there, under the title, “The Log of the FineCompanions”. It is preserved in VWML and is verywell worth reading.

The first page or so are concerned with her prepa-rations for the journey while still in Oxford, and mostof it is taken up with just one anecdote. This is un-der the date 23 July 1914, and was told her by LanceVidal.

Kimber told him that Old Kimber knows a lot moredances and tunes, but won’t tell them to people. Theold Headington side used to be frightfully debauched andgo off at Whitsuntide for weeks and weeks and never comehome to their wives. They would be drunk the whole timeand turn up at the end of the trip with no money at all.Then Old Kimber got converted and turned Methodist, soset his face against the Morris. But he had taught all hissons and daughters and they loved it, though he did all hecould to discourage it. Young Kimber has taught the Sideall he knows, but means to get more out of his father ifhe can. The old man refuses to speak. Not long ago OldKimber and Henry Franklin arranged to meet in a pub inOxford and dance jigs. Young Kimber heard of this, andcame down meaning quietly to watch from behind some-thing and see what his father did do, but the old mansaw him and never said a word, but went straight back toHeadington without dancing a step. Mr Vidal says thatYoung Kimber was a little drunk when he told him this;it must have been pricelessly impressive.”

The next day, July 24, “Morris class at 5 o’clock inSt Giles for Miss Taylor, as she had no dancing in Romeand was pining for a little before going to Stratford.

Then comes the very fine diary of this idyllic jour-ney in her horse-drawn caravan to Stratford. On theway there is a delightful account of her visit to JanetBlunt at Adderbury. And all the time amidst thepeace and ordinariness of the journey, the reader isaware of its fragility and of the impending, unmen-tioned War. One of her two companions is Alec, andafter describing Stratford comes the tragic conclusion.Alec was killed in the Ypres sector early in 1915.

I had a little note written in pencil on a leaf from anotebook. He said ‘We are just going into action. It isall so beastly that it must be for some good purpose.’ Hewas killed that night.

Also preserved in VWML is a copy of “The Caper:A Journal Devoted (Though you might not think so)to the Summer School of the EFDS.” No 1 (and only).August 1914.) It is a very good piece of occasionaljournalism in its own right, still quotable and enter-taining. Like Miss Daking’s “Log”, it also recapturesthe feel of this very exciting and lively period.

Advertisement: Wanted Immediately, by single gentle-man, small furnished country cottage, within 5 minutes


reliable public-house, and (if possible) NOT within 15miles any branch of EFDS.”

Queries answered: “G.B. Now you mention it we do notthink that any of the great Folk Dancers wore their hairlong.”

“C.J.S. Yes, we think you would have a good chance ofgetting the new certificate in Country Dances and SingingGames Only. ”

“T.C.O. No, it is None So Pretty, not None So Tiddy.You are probably thinking of the Sailors’ Shanty, TiddyIo Io. See Folk Song Society Journal XVIII p. 36.”

(Just one annotation; T.C.O. is T. C. Outram,from the Oxford Branch.)

So, with Stratford, the “halcyon stage”, as M.S.called it, was over.

Additional Notes to Part One:1899–1914

The date of the foundation of the early Oxford Branchstill has shades of ambiguity about it. This causedproblems when producing the article for the JubileeSymposium in the Folk Music Journal of 1971. CecilSharp’s words were clearly enough reported in theOxford Journal 20 March 1912: “the first child in theprovinces born to the London parent society.” Buttwo other Branches, Cirencester and Liverpool, wereformed in March and they were officially regarded ascoming into existence earlier than Oxford.

All this gives the title which Russell Wortley sug-gested for the article, “The Branch of May”, a kind ofdelightful subtlety. Certainly the First of May 1912was considered to be highly significant. CharlotteSidgwick’s notes in the first issue of the Journal , May1914, seem quite definite:

This Branch was founded on lst May 1912 amalgamatedwith it being the Oxford Folk Music Society, which wasfounded late in 1910, but had been formed by Dr Hadow,(now of Newcastle-on-Tyne) with great care during theprevious months, to embrace both the current revivals,song and dance. To be brief the Societies have swallowedone-another, like the mystic (but quite probable) serpentsof antiquity, and the resultant coil is in the shape of a truelovers’ knot—symmetrical at least.

Some further clarification of this should be possi-ble, but certainly we can now be grateful to the wis-dom of those who made May Day our official birthday.

At that point in May 1914 Charlotte Sidgwicknoted the total membership to be 124, and that “thechief classes now meets in the New Masonic Buildings,High St. nearly opposite the Schools.” She also de-scribed a remarkable occasion, which draws togetherneatly a kind of folk pattern.

Mr Percy Manning of ‘Folk Lore’ repute, introduced forthe benefit of the Branch Sir Francis Darwin, who stud-ies Pipes and Tabors. The consequence was a delightfulevening (on 12th Feb) in the Examination Schools whichwere freed from Ink-stains for the occasion. The grand

oak-boards rang responsively to the rhythmical beat ofour best ‘Morris’ illustrative of the Evolution of Man andMusic. Mr R. R. Marett as President of the Anthropo-logical Society was in the Chair, and Professor Darwinexplained, showing both by his own instrumental perfor-mance and by lantern pictures, how reed-music grew.

It was a rare occasion. The newly-gathered nativetunes, which he had by ear, must have inspired our Uni-versity Team, for it danced notably even for itself. MrKimber was there with his concertina and danced also.

The Oxford Magazine has some interesting refer-ences. The copy dated 14 November 1912 mentionsan expected visit by Cecil Sharp to lecture at the Ma-sonic Rooms on Friday 22nd, under the presidency ofDr Warren.

Among the many anthropological interests of modern Ox-ford the most decent and agreeable are the Folk Song andthe Folk Dance. Societies have recently been formed tospread and cultivate this interest, and already rustic dit-ties of age-old date are beginning to oust the songs of theMusic Hall from whistlers’ lips while the growing tastefor the dangerous and exacting sport of Morris Dancingthreatens the Golf Club with bankruptcy.

Earlier in 1912 the Oxford Magazine makes an-other reference which indicates the importance ofSomerville in the early Branch. It concerns the oc-casion of the 18th International Congress of Ameri-canists on 3rd June and tells howFinally Somerville College regaled orbem et urbem withtea, and not only with tea but likewise with a mummersplay and morris dances executed in the genuine old style.

More detail has been found concerning the Danc-ing Dons in The Shoemaker’s Holiday . The OxfordReview for 30 January 1913 gives a list of the dancesperformed.

The Morris dance by members of the University En-glish Folk-dance Society, was a very fine performance andaroused quite enthusiastic applause. Six Morris dances areto be given during the run of the play: The Derbyshire,Princess Royal and Leapfrog on Monday and Tuesdayevenings and Saturday afternoon; Tideswell ProcessionalMorris, The Old Woman tossed up and The Black Jokeon Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening and Mondayafternoon. If they are all as good as those given last nightthey will be worth seeing.

One senses there the young reporter filling out hiscopy, happily for us. The Oxford Magazine for 6thFeb is much lusher:Each night as the curtain rose on the broad striped hang-ings of the Lord Mayor’s dining-room, and showed theagreeably coloured groups of diners, servants and mu-sicians, the audience emitted an audible purr of aes-thetic satisfaction. This rose to clamour when the Morrisdancers roistered in with a veritable glare of sunlight. Itwas not until their golden bravery was eclipsed by thecurtain that one could pause to identify in retrospect theseveral Heads of Colleges (a pleasant exaggeration!).

(Strictly in parenthesis, I can’t resist adding from13 February Oxford Magazine: Mr H. Macmillan


(Balliol) defended the Bill on its merits not on itspopularity. He should go far.)

Reg Tiddy: I had a very kind and helpful letterfrom R. A. Boddington, who was up at Trinity from1911–1914.

My tutor was Reg Tiddy and it was he who persuadedme to take up Morris dancing. Tiddy was of course atremendous enthusiast, and those who danced with himcould not fail to absorb some of his enthusiasm.

In the Oxford Magazine for 11 May 1911 I found agood example of Tiddy’s interest in People. It was aletter headed “Early Closing of Booksellers’ Shops.”

Dear Sir, You were good enough to publish last Term (2ndFeb) a letter of mine which referred to a movement for se-curing the earlier closing, of Booksellers’s shops in Oxfordduring Term. May I again trespass on your space to pointout that as a result of the ‘vote’ taken last Term, the ma-jority of booksellers have decided to close their shops at7pm during the middle six weeks of Term? Some, greatlydaring, have decided to follow the example set by Cam-bridge and close on Thursday afternoons at 2 o’clock dur-ing the same period. It is hoped that these arrangementswill benefit the assistants with the minimum of inconve-nience to customers and that in time they may be gener-ally adopted.

Yours faithfully R. J. E. Tiddy, Trinity College 8thMay 1911

The Oxford Journal Illustrated for 10th May 1911gives Tiddy’s name on a list concerned with an appealfor Ruskin College (along with among others Fyfe,Lindsay, G. Murray, E. Barker, Fisher, R. R. Marett).

Kenneth Constable has pointed out thatnot only is the village hall at Ascott-under-Wychwoodnamed after him but somewhere in the hall there is eithera plaque or a framed extract of the conditions of gift whichstates inter alia ‘This Hall shall at all times be lent free ofcharge for any purpose connected with Morris dancing.

I have no record of an Oxford side availing them-selves of this, but I have heard (and cannot recall thedetails) of how an early TM tour did, rather to theirsurprise.1

From The Isis 4 May 1912:

May-MartyrsA Plea For More EnglishDown by the river, James, along the High

Street,There stands a Tow’r now girded round with

rails,Where I am bent on giving you a nice treat

1Sadly the above plaque is no longer evident in ‘Tiddy Hall’,indeed if it ever existed. In 1991, the caretaker (Ros Harbour),was approached about this matter and since she is one of thetrustees she made a search of the documents but could notconfirm this, although she was willing to ‘honour’ this apparentagreement. It is also to be noted that in the same year a fundwas set up to pay for a replacement building, on the samesite, although initial plans have been rejected by the LocalAuthority, West Oxon. To which end OUMM/AM appearedat a Ceilidh; viz log of ‘Simon Says’ Tour, 29 June 1991. GCR

On May-day morning when the cold moonpales;

It is to-morrow, James, and mile on mileThe folk will flock to greet the Spring in style,And pass remarks about yon antique pile(As recommended to the Prince of Wales),We shall be there, my friend, with all the

City,With Mayor and Aldermen incognito;And when there sounds some frightful Latin

ditty,We shall oblige them with a song they know—No played-out ballad from the Roman boards,But some dear strain that wakes domestic

chordsAnd stirs the Briton in the

list’ning hordes,Until they clamour for another go.And then in fury at a fytte so foreignTo all the glory which belongs to Rome,Provosts and Principals and Dr WarrenWill storm the citadel which erst we clomb,And give us freely what are known as beans;Spruce dons will speak to us and well-dressed

Deans,(Though in all haste we rose, with unshorn

miens,And had no time to use our morning comb);Yes, thee will speak. But we shall not be

listening;We shall sing on unmoved. And then I prayThat Zeus will send his thunder, grand and

glistening,And sweep the temple and ourselves away;So may we perish with our fame yet young,Our music finish’d and our names far-flung,As men who gloried in their English tongueAnd died for England on the First of May.

Tuesday, April 30, 1912

A.P.H.

Finally a sample of Jack in the Green material,from the Oxford Journal for 4 May 1907, in Notes byan Oxford Lady.About noon in St Giles—a sweep’s brush arose abovethe Jack-in-the-Green and the faces if his companionsconfirmed the conjecture that these were sweeps makingholiday which they did very gaily, dancing and prancingaround to the music of an instrument on wheels. One ofthe revellers had unblushingly donned the cap and gownof a B.A. and when he pranced he waved his sleeves ina fashion which was exceedingly droll. Another wore ariding suit with a green velvet coat, a third was dressedto represent a woman in a white skirt and pink bodice andthe fourth was of a nondescript sex in a kind of Japanesekimono. The B.A. carried the collecting box and it seemedto receive many contributions. The sweeps’ piano wascovered with a white flag bearing a red cross like thecoat in which King Richard appears from the Crusadesin Robin Hood.


1915–1919

There is a snatch of entertaining correspondence fromthe New Statesman of early 1915.13 March 1915. “There is nothing in all Englandmore depressing than the gloomy revival that hasset dons step-dancing in braces and bowler-hats onvillage greens.”27 March 1915. Tiddy replied, writing from North-ampton, with a correction to ‘bells and baldrics’. . . “anart, whether it be dancing or the writing of an epi-gram, is not necessarily academic because it is prac-tised by members of a university.”

Then on the Somme 1916 came the deaths ofTiddy, Butterworth, Lucas and Wilkinson. In OxfordM.S. describes the period thus:The Society hobbled through the war somehow. But forits Somerville Secretary it would have died several timesover. Classes were of women and small boys, and nowand then an officer, his back shuffle somewhat impaired bytrench boots. The teacher was in France, dancing for theY.M.C.A., and being thanked solemnly by a lieutenant-colonel on behalf of thirteen hundred army cooks. (EFDSNews Jan 1930)

The Somerville Secretary was Miss Taylor, and theteacher was Miss Daking.

1919–1922

Here I am immeasurably indebted to Kenneth Con-stable who has produced a magnificent account of thisperiod. I can do no more than reproduce this mostgratefully and hope that it will inspire further remi-niscence.

No account of this period is properly explicable withoutan understanding of the general picture of the EFDS andits organisation at this time.

To begin with what there was NOT:

A Any planned regional or area partition of Englandfor Folk Dance purposes, with a corresponding semi-autonomy or independence such as Districts havenow.

B Any Morris Ring.

A: The Society at this time was a monarchy ruled overby Cecil Sharp himself, but in the provinces of music anddance, with an executive cabinet consisting of Douglasand Helen Kennedy and Maud Karpeles. Control was cen-tred exclusively in London and where there were teachersin other places such as Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester,Newcastle, in status they were no more than branches un-der London HQ, from whom they took their instructionsboth in dance policy and in organisation. There was nodistinction between Oxford City, County and University;Oxford ‘Branch’ covered the lot.

B: Then, as now, general emphasis was laid on Coun-try (i.e. Playford in those days) rather than Morris orSword, looked upon as more specialist activities. Partieswere few except at Christmas and special occasions and

communication was mainly by practices or classes, wellenough attended by both sexes as regards Country, butapt to peter out in Morris because of the lack of opportu-nity to broaden one’s outlook or increase one’s proficiencyin the total absence of anything like Ring Meetings. Inorder to advance, one simply had to attend the Society’sVacation Schools, which were of the utmost importance,always being presided over by Sharp himself, and wherethere was always a nucleus of good or promising MorrisDancers from whom one could learn, frequently in specialvoluntary practices in the afternoons.

As a corollary of ‘A’, HQ exercised a paramount in-fluence not only on the style but also on the progress ofMorris. In style for instance anything like a bent support-ing knee in the Morris step or a quickdown arm movement(except in Bucknell) would damn you outright and some-thing like a progress ‘bar’ operated until one was adjudgedto have thoroughly mastered the galley. Sharp in fact verymuch disliked any man taking part in a Morris with gal-leys or advanced capers, unless he had already obtainedhis Advanced Folk Dance Certificate, or at any rate wasa serious aspirant. In his favourite tradition, Fieldtown, Ihave known him personally to veto show performances ofThe Rose (‘Losing your circular formation capering in theturn out’), Step Back (‘Turn the body and bring the handwell into the opposite hip, DON’T STAMP, that’s not thepoint of the movement.’) and Shepherd’s Hey (‘Slow andsmooth, but don’t let it sag or bend.’)

Curiously enough, along with the rigorous interpreta-tion of Morris, dancing of it by women and even displaywas not only tolerated but to a certain extent encour-aged and it was well for Oxford that Marjorie Barnettwas not only a first-class teacher but performer as well,especially in a Bampton gig. Practices were on Tuesdayafternoons (mixed) and Saturday evening (Men’s Mor-ris), the latter held in a top room above Taphouse themusic seller and latterly in a room in the High. Wethought ourselves lucky if we mustered a full side andthe repertoire was severely limited owing to the lack ofproficiency and the progress ‘bar’.

Headington was the staple diet. Rigs o’ Marlow andBlue-eyed Stranger till you danced them in your sleep, fol-lowed by the other Headington stick dances like Rodney,Country Gardens with hand-clapping, Old Mother Oxfordjig, leading at last to Trunkles and Laudnum Bunches.Ilmington was also done, especially the stick dances, andan occasional Bampton like Bobbing Joe and Bacca-Pipesjig, but the Bampton tradition was largely the perquisiteof the ladies and as a man I never remember doing ‘Shep-herds Hey altogether two at a time’ till well on in life,and men seldom danced Princess Royal or Lumps of PlumPudding jig. Oxford men also did the processionals likeHelston and Winster together with the Derbyshire Reel.It must be borne in mind that some traditions were notyet unearthed, (Adderbury only latterly, not Brackley ex-cept for Shooting, Abingdon, Wheatley), and Badby alsowas a ladies’ preserve, though occasionally we men didBeaux of London City.

For the remaining traditions the ‘bar’ largely operatedbut in any case until my final summer in 1922 we couldn’thave raised a side expert enough to dance anything tooelaborate. Arthur Heffer, who subsequently married Mar-jorie Barnett, was far and away our No. 1 dancer, havingemigrated from his native Cambridge to Queen’s, Oxford,


Charles Brackenbury (New College) came next, RalphHoneybone (Ruskin) was probably the nearest pure folk-dancer who ever fitted in to a non-traditional side, andby 1922 I was beginning to find my own feet. Other Ox-ford dancers at or around that time were Colin Dunlop,the late Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, Christopher Scaife(St John’s), J. G. Bergel (Baillol), still a chronic dancerwhen killed flying in the Second War and the invariablechoice for the Doctor in the Ampleforth Play, Herbert J.Thomas (Uncle Herbert), a beautiful exponent of LadiesPleasure, C. L. Gage-Brown (Ch. Ch.). At one time or an-other various Dons took part, notably Theodore Chaundyof the House, Michael Holroyd (BNC), and future Donsin the persons of John Christie (Principal of Jesus) andSir Arthur Norrington of Trinity. The latter on one occa-sion (not at Oxford) told me he was involved in an argu-ment with Sharp himself on the meaning of the notation ofHeadington Shepherd’s Hey jig, in which Sharp was hardput to it to defend his interpretation.

Mixed shows round the countryside in Summer werepretty common, comprising Country and Sword as well asMorris, the Country repertoire being much more extensivethan the Morris, while Sword was limited to Flamboroughand Kirby, at any rate I don’t recall a rapper. Dresswas white flannels with baldrick and bells and the womenwore blue. Music both at classes and shows was nearlyalways piano, sometimes accompanied by a violin andlike the dancing often of a rather moderate standard.In those days squeeze boxes, fiddles, and pipe and taborwere rarities and few dancers were also players. I thinkmost credit for the doubling must be given to the lateKenworthy Schofield, who although by no means a bornmusician mastered both the accordion and the pipe andtabor. Shows that stick in my memory were given atReading Abbey, Culham College and Broughton Castle,Banbury. When I revisited the last-named some thirtyyears later, the Dagenham Girl Pipers were in occupationof the greensward! At this period the Morris had no partin the May-day morning festivities at Magdalen and inthe High.

But the crowning glory of the Oxford Folk Dance yearwas always the Summer Term Show in New College gar-den. The late and celebrated Sir Hugh Allen, at that timeHeather Professor of Music and a Fellow of New College,was fortunately interested in Folk music and dance, andin fact I should say the existence of Folk dancing in Ox-ford depended upon the joint enthusiasm of Allen andof Marjorie Barnett. At the New College Show she ranthe dancing, Allen the music and this was both excit-ing and anxious, as on the morning of the day, never be-fore, Allen would appear in the garden for rehearsal witha select chamber orchestra of various instruments, noneof them, including Allen, having seen the music beforeand in the course of a couple of hours with his incrediblyquick grasp of musical possibilities and gift for improvi-sation, he would sort it all out among the band, shout-ing “Solo bassoon tune”. . . “That tune was born for thehorn” (i.e. Nonsuch). . . “I want a flute descant on top ofthe tune”. . . ”Now all the lot of you, all together”. . . and soon, and in the afternoon show, at any rate as far as the mu-sic was concerned there was never a hitch, even when onone occasion we danced Flamborough to the bagpipes. Inthis particular show the local side was heavily reinforcedfrom HQ for spectacular dance purposes, bringing down

dancers like the late Willie Thorold and Roland Heathand of course Douglas Kennedy himself, while Ruby Avrilwould appear with her fiddle for awkward caper music,which might have floored even Allen’s wizards. Kimberwould descend from Headington and perform Jockey andon one occasion Cecil Sharp himself showed up (at thattime he was patiently coaxing the remnants of the Wheat-ley tradition out of a reluctant source).

Kimber would also turn up at occasional practices andgive us lessons, especially in capering of which he was amagnificent exponent. This for me was the beginning ofa friendship that lasted till his death and I learnt enor-mously from him. Indeed without imbibing something ofhis strict discipline of weight control through the armsand balance control through absolutely vertical take offand landing similarly in high capers, I should never havegot half as far as I did as a dancer. Much though every-body may have enjoyed Kimber’s playing of the concertinain his later years, the memory of his musicianship was notto be compared with the sheer revelation of the power ofhis dancing in his prime. I would place him in the highestrank of traditional dancers.

Needless to say, as many as could always attendedBampton on Whitmonday, where Wells was still in com-mand of the old side, but on only one occasion did theycome to Oxford, when we entertained them at lunch inbetween dancing in the streets. I sat next to Wells but onthis, as on other occasions, like so many folk dancers andplayers it was almost impossible to draw him on dancesand tunes. Being a gardener by profession, it was all peasand beans, gooseberry bushes and cottage roses. I didhowever elicit that first, none of the Bampton men, in-cluding himself, was well enough off to afford a watch, andsecond, that in his, Wells’, view, the decay and gradualdying out of traditional Morris was due more to excessivealcohol than to anything else, and it was for this reasonhe introduced the four and six handed jigs, so that hewouldn’t lose half the side in the nearest local if only twowere dancing (a six handed Bampton Nutting Girl, withthe dancers performing the last side-step together, makesa fine showing). On this occasion too I first heard fromWells the now famous story of how the old fiddler brokehis fiddle in a fit of drunken fury after colliding with arain-pipe coming round a corner, and that was how Wellsbecame fiddler. I do not know of any Oxford dancer hav-ing danced in the Bampton side, but strangely enougha Cambridge man has this distinction, George Cooke ofCaius who was shoved in ‘nearside hindmost’ by the Cake-man presumably when old Wells wasn’t looking or tooblind to see. His natural style would fit Bampton verywell.

I wound up my Oxford dancing in a blaze of glory bybeing elected along with Arthur Heffer and Ralph Honey-bone to be a member of the Mens’ side at the Society’sannual display week for 1922 at the old King’s Theatre,Hammersmith. This was the Society’s nearest approachin those days to today’s Albert Hall performances, thedifference being largely one of outlook as the King’s per-formances were designed as showpieces to educate andattract a largely ignorant public, whereas Albert Hall em-phasis is on review and participation of current dancingthroughout the country, for a ‘with-it’ audience.


Rolf Gardiner writes:I shall never forget the New College Garden festival inJune (or May) 1922, when Cecil Sharp, Sir Hugh Allenand Elsie Avril conducted the music. The poet laureateto be, John Masefield, was among the spectators, anddescribed Barney’s dancing as ‘flamelike’. (There was anarticle by another poet, W. J. Turner, music critic of theNew Statesman, describing her dancing Ladies Pleasure atStratford, I think the previous year, a glowing account.)The side at New College was led by Scaife and Constable.I think Heath and Arthur Norrington and Chaundy werealso members of the team.

Additional note: 1919

Kenneth Constable’s piece in the Interim Reportstands as the classic account of the immediate post-war period. All I can do is add snippets of informationto be read in that context.

Miss Taylor gave her report for 1919:The main fact to report is the existence of the branch.Before the General Meeting membership was negligible,but at the close of the year the danger of an early deathwas negligible. Classes have been held in Oxford, Ban-bury, Adderbury, Deddington and Wheatley. A guaran-tee fund has been raised and a branch teacher whom weshare with Reading has been appointed (i.e. Miss Bar-nett). The Branch has suffered a great loss in the de-parture of our vice-chairman, Mr W. H. Fyfe who nowpresides over Christ’s Hospital, and of Mr D. R. Pye whowas elected in his place but had immediately to return toCambridge.

The AGM was held on Saturday 24 May at theCorn Exchange, with Theo Chaundy in the Chair.Cecil Sharp was to come.


Oxford Chronicle 14 May, under the heading ‘EnglishFolk Dancing’:On Monday at the Headington Orthopaedic Hospital avery pretty display was given by William Kimber andmembers of the Oxford FDS led by Miss M. Barnett. Nat-urally the Morris dances shown were from the Headingtontradition. (Flamborough was also done.) Mr Kimber’sjig Shepherd’s Hey was encored. It is to be hoped thatthis display will assist Mr Kimber to revive once morethe Headington side which had just begun to dance againbefore war broke out.

3 June 1920 – Pageant in New College.Oxford Times 5 November gives an account of the

AGM at 115 High Street on 23 October.A hearty vote of thanks was accorded for her great servicesto the retiring Secretary, Miss M. V. Taylor. Not only wasMiss Taylor largely responsible for the early spadeworkwhich gave the branch its great success in prewar days,but it is owing in a great measure to her energy andenthusiasm that the even more arduous task of restartingafter the war has been accomplished.

During Michaelmas Term Miss Sinclair kindlytook Miss Barnett’s place owing to the latter’s ill-ness.


16 June - New College Pageant. There were 64 per-formers. Dances included How do You do Sir, Lads aBunchum, Leapfrog, Tideswell, Derbyshire, Flambor-ough. It was an “unqualified success”; “to Miss Bar-nett is due the careful and efficient preparation andtraining, for the dance” (Oxford Chronicle 17 June).

The EFDS News for August remarked that if thissort of thing spreads “I can see Lord Curzon enquir-ing ‘placetne vobis domini doctores?’ at a statelysidestep, and the doctors and masters replying ‘placet’with one united galley.”

M.S. continues from the section quoted above:The post-war teacher reaped their harvest. She was quiteanother type, tall and sinuous; taught like a drill sergeantand moved like Atalanta. Miss Barnett now has severalthousand pupils in America. I wonder if she still doesPrincess Royal in a blue tunic. Bind on thy sandals,oh thou most fleet, Over the splendour and speed of thyfeet. This must have been meant for Miss Barnett doingPrincess Royal. This was the period of the great NewCollege garden shows, with horned men and hobby-horseson the sacred grass, and the Director of the Royal Collegeof Music conducting under the tulip tree with a wreath offlowers round his top hat. EFDS News, January 1930

Christopher Scaife, who had come up the previousOctober, writes:An Oxford side came into being, I suppose, when Barneybegan to organize festivals. . .A tremendous affair involv-ing a large number of people, with fine swirling entriesround the mound. . . I think this was when we first woretop hats. The whole thing was a great success. I wouldsay that the side consisted of Constable, CHOS; Finch,Dunlop; Norrington, Chaundy. But I’m very uncertain. Iam sure that this side did dance together, and for a per-formance, for I remember in one practice Constable, witha banshee scream, bringing his Adderbury stick smartlydown on Finch’s head as he was about to make a wrongturn in the hey.

13 May – The Festival. ‘Their greatest effort yet.’The EFDS News of November included a four pagearticle entitled ‘A Test of Folk Song’ signed CHOS.There lurks, often, in the breast of even the most ardentdevotee of folk-music the fear that it is, after all, only theecho of a past age, and that the feeling of which it was theexpression is either dead or irrevocably turned into otherchannels. Urged by this fear two enthusiasts determinedeither to confirm it or to lay it to rest this summer bytesting folk-songs in their original homes. In July theytook a punt, camping utensils and a Dulcitone (a smalltuning-fork piano), and set off up the Oxford–CoventryCanal. Their plan was to appear in the villages along itsbanks just as they were wandering minstrels singing, andhoping for a liberal contribution to the hat when they hadsung.


Christopher Scaife’s description of this tour isthoroughly fascinating; it clearly was a remarkablesuccess. It is difficult to select from it. But the niceststory is the one which he added in a letter to me whenI enquired who the other chap was.The other chap was W. T. Guthrie; no dancer but asinger. . . . My spirit was broken at Banbury on Sundayevening when, unembarrassed by the accursed dulcitone,we were having great success with folk songs on the curbnot far from the church whence people were coming afterevensong. Shillings and sixpences were rattling into thehat, the expression of pleasure in our performances, aswe thought. Until a man put half-a-crown in and as hedid so whispered with deprecatory sympathy in my ear—‘Weren’t you at Mill Hill old chap?’ And one realized thatthis was a product of charity! Guthrie, being Scottish onhis father’s side, recovered after only one drink, and likeFalstaff was glad we’d got the money. But I couldn’t bepersuaded to perform again with a collecting-hat (and itwasn’t such fun without).

1923

The Oxford Times of 4 May reported:An appreciated innovation was made by the local branchof the EFDS ‘as a free gift to the city, in gratitude for thelong and lovely survival here of the May-Day celebration.’Directly after the ceremony six members of the branch,Messrs Bergel (Ball.), Scaife (St J.), Terry (St J.), Rink(Univ.), Holroyd (BNC) and Chaundy (Ch. Ch.) gave anumber of Morris dances at several points in the city.

We have a cutting in poor condition from the Ox-ford Journal Illustrated of Wednesday 2 May showingtwo pictures, one being apparently ‘How Do You DoSir’ at the Plain (very appropriate), and the other atCarfax at 6.55.

Philip Terry writes:I think I can identify an important date for you, and thatis 1 May 1923, which was the first occasion on which wedanced Morris in the streets following the Mayday Carolsat Magdalen. (I can vouch for this as it was my 21stbirthday!)

So far as I remember the team were: Christopher Scaife(St. John’s, and then President of the Union), TheoChaundy (a Fellow of Ch. Ch.), Michael Holroyd (a fellowof BNC), Jack Bergel, George Rink (now a ChanceryQ.C.), and myself. We may have been joined by RalphHoneybone, who was not at the University and was ofan elder generation. (There is mention of him in the FoxStrangways/Karpeles Life of Cecil Sharp.)

On the Mayday in question I think we danced at fivestations: The Plain, opposite the steps of Queen’s inthe High, Carfax (imagine the traffic being stopped theretoday), opposite the gate of Trinity College in the Broad,and the Martyrs’ Memorial. We were most of us hardlymore than beginners and our repertory was confined toHeadington and a little Bampton. (Arthur Heffer andKen Constable had gone down by then.)

This was before the foundation of the Morris Ring so theMorris men had no separate entity. Our inspiration wasMiss Barnett (Mrs Heffer) who was the Oxford teacher

at that time and one of the few women really capableof teaching Morris. Other Oxford dancers who used tovisit us from time to time were Willy Thorold and RolandHeath. H. J. Thomas, an older man living locally was alsoa great support for any Morris dance occasions.

George Rink writes:In case nobody else has already mentioned it to you, youmay be interested to know that our performance downthe High on May morning 1923 had at least one long-term result. Some policemen were on duty to see thatwe did not unduly interfere with the traffic or vice versa.They were so much attracted by the Morris dancing thatthey asked us to put them in touch with someone fromwhom they could have lessons. As a result the Oxfordpolice took up Morris dancing enthusiastically and formany years sent a team to Folk Dance Festivals at theAlbert Hall.

Christopher Scaife writes:Of course I remember our forming-up under Magdalentower while the people were coming down after the singingon May day, for the first May day progress up the HighStreet, ending I think in St Giles. Those top-hats wererather a nuisance and it must have rained, though only onand off; I don’t have any grudging association with rainon that occasion; only that it was damp and chilly untilone got warmed up. I was too much of an exhibitionistto feel a fool in a top-hat; and I certainly approached thewhole thing with a certain piety.

I think we ended up with a traditional breakfast insomeone’s lodgings, perhaps Philip Terry’s (though I asso-ciate visitors from Cambridge with that meal). Though bytemperament sentimentally conservative I remember feel-ing that kidneys, chops, marmalade and beer at 9 o’clockof a May morning, however chilly, was a custom best indesuetude.

Additional note: 1923–1925

George Rink has been very helpful for 1923–4. His listof dancers for 1924 is himself, Christopher Scaife, BillReitzel (an American at New College) and probablyall or some of the following: J. D. K. Lloyd (Trinity),W. D. Robson-Scott (Univ), W. S. Curtis (Univ),John Bryson (a Balliol Don), Theo Chaundy, CharlesStirling (Corpus), and Robert Birley (Balliol). Someof these may have taken part in 1923 in addition tothose already listed. He feels sure that Kimber didnot play on the first May morning. “It so happenedthat I was the man whom the interested policemenasked whether they could have lessons, and beforeanswering them I asked Miss Barnett, and we cameto the conclusion that Kimber might be willing togive them lessons. If he had been there himself, Ifeel sure that the police would have approached himrather than me.”

The Oxford Journal Illustrated for 5 August 1925has a fine picture of the police side dancing atKirtlington with Kimber.

Theo Chaundy told the story of how “they hadmuch success until at a performance a fourteen stone


officer went through the platform. This discouragedthem.”June 2 1923 – New College Festival. Kimber waspresented with a gold badge by Sir Hugh Allen. “Af-terwards Mr Kimber danced a Morris to the delightof everyone.” “A fascinating Morris dance, entitled‘Leapfrog’ caused some amusement, as did a dancecarried out by youths who wore false beards anddanced as if they were old men.” (Oxford JournalIllustrated 6 June 1923)

1924

The Oxford Times for 2 May gives an account of MayMorning:After the ceremony members of the Oxford branch of theEFDS gave some Morris dances and it seemed indeedas if Shakespeare’s words, “a Morris for May-day” hadinspired the dancers for good purpose. Mr Kimber, whodanced some jigs, played his concertina for the Headingtontunes, and a fiddle was used for the other dances. MrT. W. Chaundy, who has been described as the “heartand soul” of the party, thanks the police for keeping aring for the dances. Some of the police who took such asympathetic interest in the proceedings are, we are told,pupils of Mr Kimber. Miss Barnett organised the dances.

Apart from this we have no direct informationon this May Morning. The other dancers wouldhave been Christopher Scaife, probably Arthur Filsell,Dick Stoddart, Christie Cookson and ? We have nopicture of this year either. (1924 and 1927 are theonly gaps in the sequence from 1923–1931).

Later in the year Rolf Gardiner recalls:In 1924 the first Travelling Morrice set out for Burfordand the Cotswolds from Oxford. Christopher Scaife, thensquire of the Oxford side, breakfasted with us at theGolden Cross and saw us off on push bikes, passing dung-spattering cattle in Beaumont Street.

This was on Wednesday 18 June.At this point I would note with interest that

the Morris at Cambridge and at Oxford have eachevolved in a highly individual and characteristic fash-ion and yet that there have always been intricatecross-currents between the two. In the interchangethe OUMM have, it would seem, gained somewhatdisproportionately, as this history will indicate. It iscertainly appropriate in this document to acknowl-edge our debts with due gratitude.

On 24 October the inaugural meeting of the CMMtook place, ‘founded by Kenworthy Schofield primar-ily to keep Cambridge Morris Men who had gonedown in touch with those still in residence.’

In Michaelmas 1924 Geoffrey Fiennes and FrancisTabor came up. Geoffrey Fiennes writes:My interest in Folk-dancing in general and Morris andSword in particular was first aroused towards the end ofmy time at Winchester when Cecil Sharp came to give alecture demonstration supported by dancers from Oxfordand Cambridge. I suspect Kenneth Constable may have

been one of the party. This was the first time I had seenanything of the sort and I was thrilled.

When I went up to Oxford in 1924 I immediatelyjoined the local branch of EFDS. Classes were held inthe Quaker’s Meeting Place which you approached downa narrow passage off the High. I found myself in aroom filled with dancing women and one disconsolate male(Francis Tabor). Before I could make my escape GeorgieTaylor, the lovely secretary of the Branch had spotted meand pushed me into her place in the current dance whereI had to sink or swim, and under the enthusiastic tutelageof Barney (Miss Barnett later Mrs Heffer) I remained inmedias res for the rest of my time at Oxford.

This year there was a fearful shortage of men and it wasalmost impossible to scrape together a Men’s Morris set,though there were no end of enthusiastic women. I thinkFrancis Tabor was the only regular undergraduate dancerbeside myself. But there was Herbert Thomas, know

the ancient men the oumm and its background ... - am39.com · the oumm and its background 5 wick,...

Documents