Thomas East Lones (1860–1944) was a British folklorist, noted for his research into British calendar customs.

Early life and education

Lones was born in

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, on 25 September 1860. He was privately educated before attending

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he graduated with a Diploma in the Faculty of Engineering.

Career

In 1884 he began work as a member of the technical staff at the newly established

Patent Office A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether the applicati ...

, at which he remained for his entire working life, retiring in 1924. Lones published a number of works on the history of industry and technology, particularly on mining and metallurgy. These included a number of articles on these topics, such as the history of mining in the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...

and the development of the

Newcomen steam engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is sometimes referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam being drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating ...

. He also published a book on

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's researches in natural science and one on zinc and its alloys.

Folklore

Lones joined the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a registered charity under English law based in London, England for the study of folklore. Its office is at 50 Fitzroy Street, London home of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. It wa ...

in 1909 and became a regular contributor to its journal. Lones is most notable for his editing for publication, a collection of material made over many years by fellow folklorist (and Patent Office employee) A. R. Wright, on the calendar customs of Britain. On Wright's death, Lones edited and saw into print three volumes on the topic, published between 1936 and 1940. The three volumes were published as: * Wright, A. R. (ed. Lones, T. E. with a preface by Hooke, S. H.). (1936) ''British Calendar Customs: England. v. 1. Movable Festivals'' (London: published for the Folk-Lore Society, W. Glaisher) * Wright, A. R. (ed. Lones, T. E. with a preface by Hooke, S. H.). (1938) ''British Calendar Customs: England. v. 2.'' ''Fixed Festivals, January–May, inclusive.'' (London: published for the Folk-Lore Society, W. Glaisher) * Wright, A. R. (ed. Lones, T. E. with a preface by Hooke, S. H.). (1940) ''British Calendar Customs: England. v. 3.'' ''Fixed Festivals, June–December, inclusive.'' (London: published for the Folk-Lore Society, W. Glaisher) The first volume was described as an "interesting and entertaining volume" when reviewed in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. All three volumes became standard texts for research into British folklore and are still frequently cited in works on British folk traditions. They have been described as "about the only one" of the large-scale collecting projects envisioned at the Folklore Society's creation in the late nineteenth century, to have "actually got completed". Lones's obituary in the Folklore Society's journal notes that he also collected material for a volume on Worcestershire for the Society's County Folklore series. Thought Lones contributed to the Folklore Society's Journal on Worcestershire Folklore, a volume in this series on the topic was never published.

Recognition

In 1941, in recognition of his work in the field of calendar customs, Lones was awarded the Folklore Society's Coote Lake Medal for Research, becoming one of the first recipients of the medal.

Selected works

* Lones, Thomas East (1898). ''A History of Mining in the Black Country''. Dudley.

OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...

56379803. * Lones, T. E. (1914). "Worcestershire Folklore". ''Folklore''. 25 (3): 370–370. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1914.9718834.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

0015-587X. * Lones, T. E. (1914). "An Omen from Dress". ''Folklore''. 25 (3): 372–373. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1914.9718840.

0015-587X. * Lones, T. E. (1925). "Scraps of English Folklore, X." ''Folklore''. 36 (1): 82–93. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1925.9718312.

0015-587X. * Lones, T. E. (1930). "The South Staffordshire and North Worcester-shire Mining District and its Relics of Mining Appliances". ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society''. 11 (1): 42–54. doi:10.1179/tns.1930.004.

0372–0187. * Lones, T. E. (1932). "The Site of Newcomen's Engine of 1712". ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society''. 13 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1179/tns.1932.001.

0372–0187. * Wright, A. R (ed. Lones, T. E. with a preface by Hooke, S.H.). (1936) ''British calendar customs: England. v. 1. Movable festivals'' (London : Published for the Folk-Lore Society, W. Glaisher) * Wright, A. R (ed. Lones, T. E. with a preface by Hooke, S.H.). (1938) ''British calendar customs: England.v. 2.'' ''Fixed festivals, January–May, inclusive.'' (London : Published for the Folk-Lore Society, W. Glaisher) * Lones, T. E. (1939). "A Précis of Mettallum Martis and an Analysis of Dud Dudley's Alleged Invention". ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society''. 20 (1): 17–28. doi:10.1179/tns.1939.002.

0372–0187. * Wright, A. R (ed. Lones, T. E. with a preface by Hooke, S.H.). (1940) ''British calendar customs: England.v. 3.'' ''Fixed festivals, June–December, inclusive.'' (London : Published for the Folk-Lore Society, W. Glaisher)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lones, T. E. 1860 births 1944 deaths People from Tipton British folklorists