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Helmdon Historical Articles

Morris Dancing At Helmdon

a note by Keith Chandler

 
The traditional art of Morris Dancing
The traditional art of Morris Dancing
When interviewed in 1922, Henry Franklin (born 1840) remembered the Helmdon morris side 'when he was a nipper. His elder brother used to dance but said he had stopped before he was grown up.' [1] He was, then, perhaps referring to activity during the late 1840s or early 1850s.

Cecil Sharp wrote in 1922, 'the Morris was danced within living memory [at Helmdon], and there are a few old dancers still alive.' [2] If the latter statement were true he did not reveal the names of those dancers.

Older brothers of Henry Franklin included Emanuel (1824 - 1896), Robert (1827 - after 1891) and George (1832 - after 1903). At this late date, however, we are unlikely to make a positive identification.

NOTES :
1 - University of Cambridge, Cecil James Sharp MSS., field notebook (words) 1922 [now lost], interview with Mr. [Henry] Franklin, Helmdon, 12 September 1922. Fair copy in 'Folk Dances' 4, f.94.
2 - EFDSS, Cecil Sharp House, London, Cecil James Sharp MSS., correspondence, box 7, folder E, item 12, letter to Mr. Oppe, from Sharp, in Brackley, Northamptonshire, 12 September 1922.

For further details of morris dancing in the locality - at Sulgrave and Greatworth, for example - see my 'Morris Dancing in the English South Midlands, 1660-1900. A Chronological Gazetteer' (Enfield Lock: Hisarlik Press, for the Folklore Society, 1993); republished, in completely revised form, on 'Morris Dancing in the English south Midlands 1660-1900. Aspects of Social and Cultural History' (Stroud: Musical Traditions Records, 2002, at www.mustrad.org.uk) MTCD250 [CD-ROM].
 
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