Katharine Mary Briggs (8 November 1898 – 15 October 1980) was a British folklorist and writer, who wrote ''The Anatomy of Puck'', the four-volume ''A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language'', and various other books on

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. From 1969 to 1972, she was president of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

, which established an award in her name to commemorate her life and work.

Biography

Katharine Briggs was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the eldest of three surviving daughters of Ernest Edward Briggs, who came from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

(his family had had great success in

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in Halifax and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

), and Mary Cooper. The other two sisters were named Winifred and Elspeth. Ernest was a watercolour artist with a specific interest in Scottish scenery who often told his children stories, possibly sparking Katharine's lifelong interest in them. The family moved to

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

in 1911, where Ernest built a house, Dalbeathie House. Ernest died there two years later in 1913. Katharine began attending

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formall ...

in 1918, obtained a BA in 1922, and took her MA in 1926. Returning home (because of the family coal legacy, and a

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in Normantown, she did not need to seek work), she began writing and running plays – the entire family enjoyed theatrical productions, and it was a lifelong interest of Katharine's – while she studied folklore and 17th-century English history. She gained her PhD with a thesis on Folklore in seventeenth-century literature (''Folklore in

Jacobean Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

'') after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

; during the war, she had been busy teaching in a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

refuge school and working for the medical branch of the

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (AM ...

. Briggs went on to become known as a folklorist.. After her first book on British fairies, ''The Personnel of Fairyland'', she went on to write many other books on fairies and folklore, including ''The Anatomy of Puck'' and its sequel, ''Pale Hecate's Team'' (1962), ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies'' (1976), as well as a number of

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

such as ''The Legend of Maiden-Hair'' (her first published book) or ''Hobberdy Dick'', and ''Kate Crackernuts''. ''A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language: Part A: Folk Narratives'' (1970) was re-published in three volumes in 2011 as ''Folk Tales of Britain'', and is described by

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The ...

in its introduction as the fullest and the most authoritative collection of British folktales that exists. In 1969 she was awarded the Doctorate in Literature, and made President of the

, a post she held until 1972, and which named an award in her honour. Briggs lived the latter part of her life at Barn House in

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswolds, Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeas ...

in Oxfordshire, and died aged 82 on 15 October 1980.

Legacy

The Katharine Briggs Folklore Award is an annual book prize established by the Folklore Society to commemorate her life and work and to encourage the study of folklore.

Published books

* ''The Personnel of Fairyland: A Short Account of the Fairy People of Great Britain for Those Who Tell Stories to Children'', illustrated by Jane Moore (1953) * ''Hobberdy Dick'' (1955) – children's novel * ''The Anatomy of Puck: An Examination of Fairy Beliefs among Shakespeare's Contemporaries and Successors'' (1959) * ''Pale Hecate's Team: An Examination of the Beliefs on Witchcraft and Magic among Shakespeare's Contemporaries and His Immediate Successors'' (1962) * ''Kate Crackernuts'', illus. Jane Kingshill (1963) – children's novel * ''Folktales of England'', eds. Briggs and Ruth L. Tongue (1965) * ''The Fairies in Tradition and Literature'' (1967); US title ''The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature'' * ''Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language'' (four vols., 1970–71) * ''The Folklore of the Cotswolds'', illus. Gay John Galsworthy (1974) * ''A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures'' (1976); US title ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies: tc' * ''A Sampler of British Folk-Tales'', compiled (1977); also published as ''British Folk-Tales and Legends: A Sampler'' * ''The Vanishing People: A Study of Traditional Fairy Beliefs'', illus. Mary I. French (1978); US subtitle ''Fairy Lore and Legends'' * ''Abbey Lubbers, Banshees & Boggarts: A Who's Who of Fairies'', illus. Yvonne Gilbert (1979); US subtitle ''An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies'' * '' Nine Lives: Cats in Folklore'', illus. John Ward (1980); US subtitle ''The Folklore of Cats''

References

External links

* . * . * . * . * ; commemorates Briggs as scholar and former Folklore Society President. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Katharine Mary 1898 births 1980 deaths English folklorists Women folklorists Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford People from Burford People from Hampstead Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen Presidents of the Folklore Society 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers