Alice Bertha Gomme, Lady Gomme ( Merck; 4 January 1853,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
– 5 January 1938, London), was a leading
British
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* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
folklorist, and a pioneer in the study of children's games, and the first president of
Florence White's English Folk Cookery Association.
Life
Gomme was the daughter of Charles Merck, a master tailor, and Elizabeth, his wife. On March 31, 1875, she married
George Laurence Gomme (1853-1916), who was himself an important figure in folklore studies.
[Gomme (2004).] The couple had seven sons, born between 1876 and 1891. One of these,
Arthur Allan Gomme, would, like his father, become president of the
Folklore Society. Another,
Arnold Wycombe Gomme, was a noted classical scholar.
When the Folklore Society was founded in 1878, Gomme and her husband were among the founder members; and she would be a leading figure in its activities for the rest of her life.
Her major work is ''The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland'' (two vols., 1894 and 1898), containing descriptions of some 800 children's games, collected with the help of seventy-six correspondents.
Among other works on the same subject was ''Children's Singing Games'' (two vols., 1894) and several later works in collaboration with her husband or with
Cecil Sharp
Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...
.
Her ''Children's Singing Games: with the Tunes to Which they are Sung'' was also notable for being one of the finest illustrated Arts & Crafts books produced by the
Birmingham School of Art. Another pioneering interest was folk cookery; and she was elected as the first president of the English Folk Cookery Association in 1928.
Beyond these specialist areas, her articles on folklore show a wide variety of interests.
Notes
References
*Georgina Boyes,
A Proper Limitation: Stereotypes of Alice Gomme, ''Musical Traditions'' (internet journal, 2001)
*Robert Gomme, 'Gomme, Alice Bertha, Lady Gomme (1853-1938)', ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford: OUP, 2004, online ed. 2006)
*Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, 'Gomme, Alice Bertha', ''A Dictionary of English Folklore'' (Oxford: OUP, 2000), 148-9
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomme, Alice
English folklorists
British women folklorists
1853 births
1938 deaths
People from London
Wives of knights